Couples Therapy at Arroyo Grande
by piaffe417
Summary: Walker's putting Syd and Gage undercover in couple's therapy in order to catch some criminals - but is that the only reason they're there? COMPLETE - Please R/R!
1. Marital Discord

I have no idea where this story came from but once it hit, I have to say that the idea of sending Syd and Gage to couple's counseling – even if they are only undercover – was too good to pass up. This chapter is an effort to set things up but I'm hoping hilarity will ensue in further installments. We'll see where the muse takes me. Also, as always, I don't own any of these characters and am not profiting from this complete and utter manipulation of them in any way, shape, or form. Too bad – I could use the money…

The sound carried all the way up the hall and into the office of Company B, causing the Texas Rangers working inside to stop what they were doing, look up, and listen.

"Uh-oh," Ranger James Trivette commented, looking up from his paperwork to glance over at his partner, Cordell Walker.

"Third time this week," Walker remarked with a frown.

The sound got closer and closer, peaking as the door opened to reveal another pair of Texas Rangers – Sydney Cooke and Francis Gage - the source of the noise. Both Rangers were red-faced and arguing loudly, neither paying attention to the stares their behavior was eliciting from their coworkers.

"He wouldn't have gotten away in the first place if you'd been there to back me up!" Sydney yelled.

"I _was_ backing you up!" Gage protested.

"Checking out his girlfriend is not backing me up!" she retorted. "And what's more, I had no idea where you were – I turned around and you were gone!"

"I was not checking out his girlfriend," Gage argued. "She was a suspect and I was keeping an eye on her so that she couldn't come after you from behind. If that's not back-up, I don't know what is!"

The Rangers had reached their desks but showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Sydney stood on one side, facing her partner with her hands on her hips in a confrontational stance and Gage occupied the other, arms crossed defiantly across his chest.

"Back-up, by definition," Sydney countered, "requires that you be in the same room as me so that you can _watch my back_."

"I could see your back from where I was!" Gage cried.

"You mean maybe you could have seen my back – if you hadn't been so occupied with hers!" Sydney yelled back. "I can't believe you would leave me in that type of situation!"

"I didn't leave you anywhere!"

"Well if you didn't, then explain to me how Martinez made it out the door without us catching him."

"He didn't go out the door – he crawled out a window!"

"And you didn't stop him!"

"I was arresting his girlfriend!"

"You were distracted!"

"I was not!"

Trivette shot Walker a look that clearly asked, "How long are you going to let this continue?" A bit dismayed at having to step into the middle of what was clearly a matter between Sydney and Gage and no one else, Walker finally nodded at his own partner, then stood.

"Enough!" he boomed, his voice echoing in the room.

Sydney and Gage's eyes grew wide as they suddenly realized that the entire room was staring at them and an embarrassed flush climbed up Gage's neck. Two red spots were visible on Sydney's cheeks and she turned to face Walker, breathing hard. Both Rangers looked surprised at their own behavior and genuinely guilty.

Walker paused a moment to let the peace and quiet sink in, his eyes locked on the Rangers' faces, and watched as they squirmed beneath his gaze. Finally, he said, "Sydney, Gage – Captain Briscoe's office right now."

Sheepishly, the pair followed him into the office where he closed the door behind them. The captain looked up from his paperwork and asked, "What is it, Walker?"

"Captain, I think I've found the right couple of Rangers for that new assignment we were discussing earlier," Walker told him. He gestured to the Rangers standing beside him. "Rangers Gage and Cooke seem to be in the middle of quite a disagreement at the moment and I think they'll benefit from this case."

"It was just a little argument," Gage put in quietly, looking furtively between Walker and the captain, his eyes nervous.

"It's nothing, really," Sydney agreed with a small smile that was meant to smooth the situation.

"Fourth time this week, isn't it?" the captain asked mildly, ignoring their attempt to brush Walker's suggestion off.

"The third," all three corrected him in unison.

"Mm-hmm," Briscoe responded. He pursed his lips thoughtfully, then asked, "Walker, are you sure they can handle the task at hand without letting their personal problems take over? Catching criminals has to be their first priority."

"Oh I'm sure they can handle it," Walker assured him, "In fact, I think a trip to Arroyo Grande is just what the doctor ordered for these two…"

*

"I can't believe they're making us go to couple's counseling!" Gage protested for the fifth time that afternoon as he steered his car through the busy streets of Dallas.

Sydney, in the passenger seat, frowned and said, "I said it five minutes ago and I'll say it again: it's a work assignment, not a punishment."

"But it's counseling!" he whined.

Sydney rolled her eyes. "We're going to catch whoever it is inside Arroyo Grande that's tracking these couples after they stay there and attacking them months later to steal their internal organs and sell them on the black market."

Gage sighed but he wasn't done complaining. "But why does it have to be _couple's_ counseling? That's for married people and we are most definitely _not_ married."

"Thank you for noticing," Sydney remarked dryly. 

"I mean," Gage went on, "just last week Trivette mentioned that you and I sound like an old married couple, but I didn't think it would lead to this!"

"Look, can we just go in and get this over with?" Sydney snapped suddenly. "I'm not exactly thrilled to be going here with you either, you know."

Gage was taken back by her tone. "Sure, Syd. Sorry."

He parked in front of the low, sweeping adobe building that was the Arroyo Grande Couples Counseling Resort main office and cut the engine. In tense silence, the two partners got out of the car, grabbed their bags from the backseat, and entered the building.

"Checking in?" asked a perky blonde woman behind the front desk.

"Yeah," Gage nodded.

"John and Elena Parker," Sydney gave her their undercover names and tried not to bite the words of as she did so, even though she was still upset with her partner.

The woman was obviously used to greeting people who were tense and rude, however, because she paid no mind to the obvious animosity between the pair, but simply told them, "You'll be staying in the River Cabin – it's the third building down on your right. Your first session with Dr. Ehrlich is at 4:00 in the Serenity Room, which is down this hall and to your left. That means you have a half an hour to settle in before you need to be back here. Any questions?"

"None that I can think of," Gage told her.

"We'll be fine," Sydney hoisted her duffel bag to her shoulder and spun on her heel, headed for the door and the "River Cabin."

She kept such a pace that Gage had to jog to catch up with her once they were outside. In an effort to smooth things between them, he asked conversationally, "So what do you think of the place?"

"Gage, they have a 'Serenity Room,'" Sydney reminded him, annoyed. "I have a feeling we're in for a week of pure hell."

"Come on, Syd," he chided her, "it can't be that bad."

"You were just complaining ten minutes ago that you didn't think we needed to be here in the first place!" Sydney stopped and threw up her hands in exasperation.

"Yeah, but it's…nice," he gestured at the well-landscaped scenery around them. "Don't you think so?"

Her only response was to quirk a disagreeing eyebrow in his direction as they reached the River Cabin (which turned out to be situated between the Valley Cabin and the Mountain Cabin) and unlocked the door. Stepping inside, they took in their sparse surroundings with critical eyes. The décor was rustic and definitely minimalist – the only furniture present was a bed, couch, coffee table, and a table with two upright chairs on either side of the room. A tiny bathroom was situated in the back on the left. The few pictures on the pale adobe walls were of calm desert scenes and mountain landscapes and there were no technological devices to be found anywhere.

Sydney shot Gage a look that clearly said, "I told you so" and dropped her duffel to the floor, asking, "Couch or bed?"

"I'll take the couch," Gage bit back the humorous comments that came into his mind when she had asked that question, knowing that to venture any of them would be to risk his own internal organs before they could even begin to figure out who here was involved in selling them.

Sydney nodded and proceeded to open her bag and pull out all of the surveillance equipment they would be utilizing during their stay. Walker had told them that the most likely place to begin looking for the organ thieves would be in the resort's records room and she and Gage would be breaking into the room after dinner to see what they could find out.

She had just stowed the last of the camera and phone bugging equipment under the bed when a knock at the door sounded. She and her partner exchanged a confused look and Sydney shrugged to indicate that he should open the door and find out who it was. He did so and opened the door to reveal a striking middle-aged couple with smiling faces.

"Hi," the woman, a petite brunette with gleaming white teeth, beamed. "We're Bob and Mary Tyler from Houston and we're staying next door. Did you just arrive today?"

"Um, yeah," Gage faltered a bit at the speed and cheerfulness of her delivery, then recovered. "I'm John Parker and this is my wife Elena."

Sydney plastered a smile on her face and went over to shake hands. "Nice to meet you."

"Well let me assure you that you'll love it here," Mary gushed. "We've been here two weeks and we've never felt more connected to one another."

"That's great," Sydney tried not to sound disgusted.

"We were on the verge of divorce two months ago," Mary continued, oblivious to Sydney's tone of voice. "But now look at us – happy as clams."

Bob Tyler smiled then as though to emphasize his wife's point but still remained silent. He didn't have time to say anything anyway, though, because Mary jumped in again with, "I hope you're not in such dire straits – you're such an attractive couple."

Sydney and Gage exchanged a quick glance and Gage quickly dropped an arm around Sydney and said, "Oh no. Elena and I have just been working so hard lately that we've stopped communicating as well as we used to. Right, sweetie?"

Sydney fought the urge to elbow him for calling her sweetie. To Mary, she said, "Right. We're just hoping to use a week here to reconnect."

"Oh good," Mary wrung her hands happily. "Well, I suppose you have things to do, so we won't bother you anymore at the moment. Will we see you at dinner tonight?"

"Absolutely," Sydney assured her, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Great," Mary beamed again. "We'll see you then."  
"Thanks for stopping," Gage told them as he closed the door, leaning up against it 

as though to put up a barricade to keep the Tylers out.

"Wow," Sydney breathed. Gage's wide eyes showed he agreed with her sentiment.

*

The Rangers were still a bit annoyed with each other as they sat down in the Serenity Room in the main lodge, however, and it showed in their proximity to one another. Sydney assumed a spot on one side of the couch and Gage sat on the opposite end, acting as though he was afraid to get too close to her. They didn't speak, even after their counselor, Dr. Ehrlich, had entered the room and introduced himself to them. He was a wiry man in his late fifties with gold-rimmed glasses and a pencil-thin mustache of a silvery-white that matched his thick hair.

"Mr. and Mrs. Parker," the doctor looked at them from his chair opposite the sofa they shared, "it's a pleasure to meet you. I've been waiting to speak with you all day – the registration information you supplied us with has been an interesting read. I understand that you, Mr. Parker, are in business and you, Mrs. Parker, are a dance instructor. How fascinating! I also read, however, that you've had some problems relating to each other recently. Is this true?"

Sydney shot Gage a sideways glance, which he returned, he said all too truthfully, "We've been arguing more lately, that's all."

"And from what I read, I see it's been effecting your work," the doctor said in a sickeningly sympathetic tone, which Gage immediately bristled at. Syrup seemed to drip from his words and he was attempting to tell them, "I would like to be your friend" even though his only reason for doing so was because it was his job. It was purely false and, had Gage not been working undercover, he would have shut down the conversation immediately. Still, he was too professional for that.

Sydney apparently wasn't fond of the tone either because Gage could feel her stiffen beside him. He wasn't surprised – if it was one thing that his partner hated, it was false overtures of goodwill. He supposed it was her cop instincts, considering that believing that the sort of thing that could get either one of them killed on undercover missions like this one. Gage almost smiled, glad that they shared the same feeling and almost feeling sorry for the doctor. Sydney wouldn't come right out and confront Ehrlich, but she would undoubtedly make his life difficult. The poor man had no idea what he was in for.

They had agreed when deciding what characters they would play on this mission that Gage would be the half of the couple who was against counseling and Sydney would be the one in favor. Gage decided to put on his role at that moment and run with it.

"Look, Dr. Ehrlich," he began, "when you don't spend enough time with a person, you're bound to have disagreements whenever you're together. Elena and I had been working a lot lately and we're going through a rough patch because of it. We'll be fine."

"Mm-hmm," was the only response from the older man. He never missed a beat, but instead turned Gage's statement around. "You say you don't spend as much time together as you used to. Would you mind telling me a little more about the things you used to do before you were working so much so I can get a better feel for where your problems may lie. How much time do you spend together a week?"

Sydney looked at Gage, who was surprised to see a bit of coldness in her eyes, before she answered. Yet when the words came, her tone was matter-of-fact and almost friendly. "Well, when we were first married we used to spend time together every night. We'd have dinner and watch movies together on the couch – and we'd talk about everything that was going on in our lives. I miss that."

Gage gave a half-smile – Syd was describing what a typical Friday night was like for them now. Somewhere along the line, meeting at one of their apartments with a pizza and a Steven Segal movie had become their routine. The habit had stopped recently, though, thanks to the caseload they'd been dealing with and Gage had to agree with his "wife" – he missed it.

"Mm," Ehrlich nodded. "And now how do you spend time together?"

Gage said, "We mostly just pass each other in the hall on our way to do something or sit down to dinner and eat without talking because we're so hungry and tired."

"So would you say that you've lost tough?" the doctor wanted to know.

The Rangers glanced at each other again before Sydney answered for them both. "Yeah, I guess that's a fair assessment."

"What about dating?" Ehrlich continued.

"Each other?" the pair asked in surprised unison.

The doctor's eyebrows lifted at this as though confused by their sudden shocked response and he said, "I was referring to dating in the way that you did before you were married. Have you tried dating each other again since this losing touch has begun?"

"Um, no," Sydney responded.

"Never thought of it," Gage added, glancing sidelong at Sydney.

"Mm," Ehrlich mused.

"So are you suggesting that I ask Elena out on a date, Dr. Ehrlich?" Gage asked, slightly confused.

"It certainly couldn't hurt," the doctor replied. "It's one way I've found that busy couples can rejuvenate their relationships when they hit rough patches like the one you're in right now."

Sydney and Gage remained silent upon receiving this suggestion, though their reaction didn't seem to bother Ehrlich, who asked, "How long have you been married again? I read it in your file but the date has slipped my mind."

"Two and a half years," Sydney told him, using the time period of their partnership as Rangers for the length of their "marriage."

"Ah yes," Ehrlich nodded. "You're very newly married; I remember now."

He suddenly stood, causing the Rangers to jump to their feet as well. "I think this is enough for our first session. Tomorrow morning you will join the group session in the Bliss Room at nine o'clock and then you will spend the afternoons in different sessions; one is for husbands only and the other for wives. Then in the evening we have another group session after dinner."

He gave them a bright smile and ushered them out the door. Before they exited, however, he stopped them to impart one more thing: "Oh, and if you could please leave any cell phones or laptops you might have brought with you at the front desk, that would be most helpful. We find that couples have an easier time connecting with one another without distractions from the outside."

Gage flinched inwardly, but didn't allow his feelings to show on his face. Instead, he nodded, as did Sydney and they departed.

At the front desk, they followed orders and left their cell phones with the woman there. The surveillance gear they'd brought included a separate cell phone so they would still have a connection to Walker when they needed it. Still, Gage couldn't help but feel a bit sad as he relinquished his – not that he knew who he would call anyway since Sydney was with him. Still, they weren't exactly on good footing at the moment so a lifeline to the outside would have been appreciated.

The Rangers were heading for the dining hall when they encountered the Tylers again. Mary gushed a hello and grabbed Sydney's hand to drag her along, jabbering as she did so. Sydney glanced back over her shoulder at Gage with a pained and desperate expression on her face. Her eyes clearly said, "Help me, please!" but Gage couldn't bear to miss the golden opportunity he'd been handed. She had been riding him all week ever since the Martinez bust and she'd been rude all day since they'd arrived at Arroyo Grande, yet here was his opportunity to get even.

"My wife's a talker," Bob Tyler sidled up to Gage as the women pulled ahead, Mary still pulling Sydney along.

"Oh mine too," Gage nodded and sent a sickeningly sweet smile in Sydney's direction, giving her a waggle of his fingers that clearly indicated his disinterest in assisting her. The gesture obviously made his point because her eyes widened with horror, then anger. Gage knew he'd be in for it later, but at that moment, his decision left him completely satisfied.

Next chapter – group therapy! (Insert maniacal laughter here.)


	2. Trust Exercises

Sydney was not speaking to Gage as they exited the dining hall after dinner, having finally escaped the Tylers who were on their way to their evening "Regrouping" session. In fact, nearly all of the couples were headed to that session, presenting the two Rangers with the perfect opportunity to set up their surveillance equipment in the file room in the main office. Once that task was completed, they could begin monitoring everyone who entered and exited the room and start piecing together that data with the information they had already in order to find out who was tracking the couples and stealing their organs. There was a definite benefit to Sydney's silence, though, Gage decided wryly, because it guaranteed they wouldn't get caught because they were being too noisy.

"You know, she wasn't really all that bad," he told her when they were back in their cabin sorting through their gear. "You're acting like I put you in front of a firing squad."

Sydney looked up at him, eyes glittering dangerously. "You think that was funny?"

Gage was taken aback by her harsh response. "Apparently not."

"I spent all of dinner hearing about their cats, Gage," Sydney spat. "Did you know that older cats need to have the plaque removed from their teeth on a yearly basis in order to aid them in their digestion?" She flashed a bitter smile, "I'll be you didn't – and what's more I'll be you don't know how exactly that's done either."

"I'm guessing you do, though," he tried to casually clap his hand over his mouth so as to hide the smile that threatened to escape.

"I think it's safe to say that I could now do the procedure myself," she said forcefully.

Gage couldn't help himself and burst out laughing, turning away from Sydney as though he could hide it from her.

"It's not funny!" she protested.

"Oh come on, Syd," he gasped between laughs. "The idea of you doing dental surgery on a cat? If that's not funny, I don't know what is!"

Her face twisted and Gage could tell that she was struggling to stay mad at him. He could also tell that it was going to be a losing battle for her and a split second later, he watched a smile crack across her face and a small chuckle escaped.

"See," he told her knowingly.

"I can't believe you did that to me, though," she shook her head.

"It'll never happen again," he assured her.

"Yeah, right," she clearly didn't believe him, but returned her attention to sorting out their equipment.

"Okay, so it will," he agreed with a shrug.

"Here," she was all business as she shoved a tiny camera into his hands and led the way out the door. "Let's get this done."

Silently he followed her out the door and over to the main office, which was dimly lit and completely empty. The front door was unlocked but the door to the file room wasn't. Sydney stepped aside then to let Gage pick the lock with a small set of tools from his pocket. Once they were inside the dark room, each moved quickly to complete their tasks. Gage mounted the tiny camera inside the room's smoke detector, aiming it directly at the row of file cabinets along the wall while Sydney placed listening devices in all four corners. They worked with complete ease and efficiency in total contrast to their clashing behavior of the past week and Gage took a moment to marvel at the fact that, no matter how upset they were with each other personally, they were still able to work as one unit. And, despite their earlier moment of lightness, he knew that there was still something between them, a difficulty that would have to be dealt with sometime.

"All set?" Sydney hissed when she finished planting the last bug.

"Yeah," Gage whispered back.

They met at the door and opened it cautiously, Sydney peeking around the corner to make sure no one was around to spot them. Her inspection revealed that the coast was clear and they crept out of the file room, across the lobby, and out the door. Once out of the building, Gage took the opportunity offered by their short, silent walk back to their cabin to think things over. Sydney wasn't mad at him for the dinner incident anymore, he knew, but something was on her mind and he could tell. He'd spent enough time learning to read her body language when they were working – a necessity when bringing in criminals – that doing so was something he now did automatically. The signs that something was bothering her were there – her brow was furrowed in that way that showed she was mulling something over and her walk was heavier than usual, as though she were weighted down with something. He gathered her behavior had something to do with him, but he couldn't recollect a time when she'd ever been this closed-mouthed about what was on her mind. He racked his brain but for the life of him he couldn't pinpoint the exact reason why this time would be different and why their fighting had lasted for so much longer than normal. Sure she was usually in varying stages of annoyance with him at work – usually because of something he was teasing her about – but it had never transferred over into anger and it had always stayed at the office. Outside of work, they tended to bicker, though it was more out of camaraderie than anything else. So what was it that he'd done? Or what hadn't he done? He couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried and Sydney sure wasn't dropping any hints.

He was still mulling the situation over in his mind as he adjusted his position on the lumpy couch for the fifth time later that night in an attempt to find a comfortable sleeping arrangement for his limbs. What made it worse was the fact that he could tell that Sydney too was awake – there was a certain restlessness about her and her breathing was anything but deep and even. Under normal circumstances, they'd probably talk the night away – or at least talk until one or both of them finally fell asleep. They'd done that several times on various undercover missions where they'd had to pretend to be a couple and it always brought them closer together. Tonight, however, it was not to be.

With a sigh, Gage rolled over yet again and tried for what seemed like the fiftieth time to figure out where he'd messed up.

*

Group therapy the next morning did nothing to improve either of their moods and Gage found himself wishing five minutes into it that he was anywhere else. Fighting ten armed criminals on his own barehanded even seemed far more desirable than the morning's "unity task."

"Good morning, couples," Dr. Ehrlich greeted everyone with his syrupy smile and clasped his hands together enthusiastically as though he was holding onto something he couldn't contain – undoubtedly the directions to the morning's assignment. And as soon as he'd shared them, Gage wished he had somehow managed to hold back.

"This morning's unity task is an exercise designed to build trust," the doctor told the ten couples who had assembled in the aptly named "Unity Room," the room where all of the group therapy sessions occurred. "It's very simple and I think you'll find it very useful. What I'm going to ask you to do is something you have to do frequently in your marriages – catch each other when you fall. Sounds romantic, doesn't it?"

"Not particularly," Sydney muttered under her breath and Gage smiled to himself. At least they would be united in one thing - their loathing for the activity they were about to engage in.

"Husbands, I want you to stand in front of your wives," Dr. Ehrlich instructed.

The men did so and Gage shot a glance over his shoulder to tell Sydney, "I don't like the way this is starting."

"That makes two of us," she frowned, pointedly glaring at the doctor.

"Now," Dr. Ehrlich continued, "when I count to three, you're going to lift your arms straight out in front of you and fall backwards. Your wives will then catch you and lower you safely and gently to the floor. Once we've done that, we'll switch and the husbands will catch the wives. The idea behind this is to let you know that you can trust your spouse to have your back, so to speak. If you can't trust him or her to catch you in this situation, you'll have a hard time trusting each other when it comes to everyday married life. Thus, we're going to practice this until that trust is firmly instilled. Any questions?"

No one raised their hands, but Sydney muttered, "Do we have to do this at all?"

Gage turned and whispered, "Oh come on, Syd – maybe we'll learn something from this."

"I don't really have a desire to learn how much more than me you weigh," was her response.

"Spoilsport," he teased as Dr. Ehrlich beamed at the couples and began to count. "One. Two. Three."

Gage raised his hands and leaned backwards. Sydney had never let him down before and he saw no good reason why she would do so now – especially with an audience when they were working undercover – though there was a brief second when he wondered if maybe this would be the time she wouldn't catch him. But, he reminded himself, that was supposed to be the point of the exercise. Taking a deep breath, he let himself go – and connected with Sydney's arms a few seconds later.

"Oomph," she expelled a whoosh of air as they connected, then lowered him to the floor carefully.

"Excellent!" the doctor clapped his hands as he noted their success. Then he hurried over to help Mr. and Mrs. Lopez, who seemed to be having an argument instead of completing the task.

"See?" Gage crossed his arms contentedly across his chest and made no move to get up from the floor. "Piece of cake."

"Easy for you to say," she took the opportunity to tease him. "How many pancakes did you eat for breakfast?"

"Only four," he protested. She frowned at him and he added, "Plus four waffles, six strips of bacon, and five sausages. Oh yeah, and I at an apple too."

"Uh-huh," she snorted.

"Hey, how about helping me up?" he flashed her his best schoolboy smile and a wink, earning a roll of the eyes and ultimately an outstretched hand.

As his hand met hers, Gage couldn't resist. He glanced around quickly and noted that Dr. Ehrlich was still refereeing for the Lopezes and that the other couples were still working on the exercise. Then, instead of allowing Sydney to pull him to his feet, he used the extra weight he'd gained since breakfast to pull her to the floor with him. She landed almost completely on top of him, her face only registering mild surprise.

"I guess I should have seen that one coming," she remarked, moving herself over so that she was laying on her stomach beside him on the floor.

"You really should have," he agreed.

Their conversation was companionable but was interrupted by Dr. Ehrlich, who scurried over and demanded, "What happened here?"

Eighteen other pairs of eyes locked on Sydney and Gage, who tried hurriedly to deflect them.

"We're fine, doctor," Gage leapt to his feet and pulled Sydney up beside him. "Just taking a moment to relax from the, uh, strain of the exercise."

"Ah, so long as you're all right," Dr. Ehrlich seemed to relax and he once again strode to the center of the room. To everyone, he announced, "All right! Time to trade places – this time the wives will fall back."

"Don't drop me," Sydney told Gage when she had stepped in front of him.

"No problem," he grinned again. "Like I told you, Syd – it's a piece of cake."

"Uh-huh," her tone was doubtful. "I believe the last time you told me something was a piece of cake, you and Jimmy were on your way to pick up the tuxes for Walker and Alex's wedding and you blew them up – along with Jimmy's car."

"Hey, I…" Gage started to protest when Dr. Ehrlich clapped his hands again and began his countdown.

"I'm warning you, _Francis_," Syd told him under her breath.

"I got it," he assured her. "Trust me."

"That's the idea anyway," was her reply.

"On three, ladies," the doctor said. "One. Two. Three."

Sydney seemed to hesitate before she fell, Gage noticed. It wasn't significant and probably only a person who knew her extremely well would have noticed it at all, but she definitely seemed to be preparing herself to fall. Her body language seemed to ask the question, "Is he going to be there?" but it was fleeting and he watched her inhale and lift her arms. Then she was falling, hanging in midair for a second, and Gage held out his arms, feeling her land in them softly. It was a comfortable feeling for him to have her there, leaning on him for support, but Gage didn't dare jeopardize any of their newly rediscovered camaraderie and made sure to carefully lower her to the floor, moving quickly to stand over her.

"Told you so, Shorty," he chided, offering his hand.

"That you did," she gave him a welcome half-smile and grasped his hand in her own. For a moment, her eyes seemed to glitter mischievously and he feared she would try to pull the stunt he had earlier, but the moment passed and she allowed him to pull her into a standing position.

The Lopezes were having trouble again – Mrs. Lopez began hitting her husband with the sweatshirt that had previously been tied around her waist – and the room was distracted by the show they were putting on. In the commotion, Mary Tyler made a beeline for Sydney and Gage, her husband trailing behind.

"You did that exercise beautifully," she gushed to them both. "It's rare to see first-timers do so well at it."

"Well, we – uh," Gage faltered.

Sydney took over and told her, "We dance together a lot – I'm a dance instructor, you know. This is kind of like that."

"Ah," Mary nodded enthusiastically. "What kind of dance do you teach?"

"Salsa," Sydney replied succinctly.

"Wow," the other woman breathed. "I've always wanted to take dance lessons – haven't we always wanted to, honey?"

Bob Tyler nodded and looked as though he was going to say something when Mary pushed forward, saying, "It looks like so much fun and yet so difficult. Is it really all that difficult?"

She was pulling Sydney across the room with her towards the refreshment table in the corner, as the session had wrapped up and the Lopezes had ceased fighting.

As Sydney walked by him, Gage whispered under his breath, "It's about as difficult as doing dental work on a cat."

Sydney's eyes shot daggers at him and he was about to go to her aid in order to make up for the night before when Dr. Ehrlich suddenly appeared at his elbow.

"Mr. Parker," the doctor smiled, "I just wanted to congratulate you on such a successful first session. You and your wife are doing very well here."

"Thank you," was all Gage could manage. Sydney was sending a pleading gaze in his direction and he began inching towards her and away from Ehrlich.

"Granted, you're not cured by simply being able to complete one trust exercise," the doctor continued. "But still, I think it's safe to say that you're well on your way to a happier marriage."

"I want nothing more in the world, doctor," Gage shook the man's hand quickly and went over to save his "wife" from the Tylers. 

*

Thankfully, the morning unity task was followed by a break. During that time, couples were "encouraged to take what they'd learned from their unity task and build on it." Gage and Sydney chose to hurry back to their cabin and find out what information the surveillance equipment had obtained while they were out. Gage also used the opportunity to call Ranger Headquarters and check in with Walker.

"How are things going so far, Gage?" the senior Ranger wanted to know.

"We planted all of the surveillance equipment in the file room last night but we probably won't have any usable information until tonight or tomorrow," Gage reported. "I just wanted to call to let you know that we're on track."

"Good," Walker told him. There was a pause on the other end of the line and a hushed conversation before Walker came back on. "Um, Gage, Trivette wants to know how your marriage counseling with Sydney is going?"

Gage made a face. "Tell Trivette our marriage is none of his business."

The words elicited a confused stare from Sydney but Gage waved her off as he listened to a collective chuckle from the senior Rangers. 

Walker waited a moment, then added, "Oh and Gage? Captain Briscoe wants you to know that if the two of you can't work things out in counseling, he's going to get you a divorce."

"We'll be fine, Walker," Gage sighed. "I'll call you when we have some information."

"Talk to you later," Walker was chuckling as he hung up the phone.


	3. For Husbands Only

Author's Note – Sorry for the delay, folks, but I've been on a much-needed spring break. Hope this chapter makes up for it!

Lunch was uneventful. The "Parkers" managed to successfully avoid the Tylers and ate quietly at a small table for two near one of the cafeteria windows. The afternoon session would begin at 2:00 and husbands were assigned to be back in the "Unity Room" while wives would assemble in Sydney's personal favorite place, the "Serenity Room." Aware of the opportunity the split sessions provided, both Sydney and Gage looked forward to getting some real detective work done on their case and used their isolation at lunch to organize a strategy.

"From what we've seen so far," Sydney began, "I think Dr. Ehrlich is our most likely suspect. He's the one with the most access to and knowledge of all of the couples who come through here."

"You're probably right," Gage agreed. "But I don't think we can rule out any members of his staff at this point – not until we've viewed the tapes from the file room anyway."

"True," Sydney nodded. "I want to bug his phone this afternoon, though – just to be safe."

"Right," Gage glanced furtively around to make sure that their conversation wasn't being listened to. The other couples seemed engrossed in their meals and in chatting with each other, paying no notice to the Rangers.

He looked back at Sydney. "I think our best chance to plant the bug will be after lunch on our way to our sessions. Ehrlich will be directing traffic like he always seems to do with these things, so we can be sure he'll be out of the way. Do you have the bug with you?"

Sydney nodded and her brown eyes instantly told Gage that someone was approaching. He snapped his mouth shut as Sydney began to say, "So I told Fernando that if he didn't learn to step down on the two instead of the one, I was going to break his leg."

"My but you have a unique teaching style!" Dr. Ehrlich commented, stopping in front of the couple's table, his cheesy grin firmly in place. Gage noted, however, that his eyes were glittering in an almost reptilian fashion as he peered down at them. Suspicion took a firm hold in the Ranger's mind but he kept his face neutral.

"Fernando is one of my clumsier students," Sydney's tone took on its charming quality, "but he seems to do better with a bit of a push."

"I see," the doctor demurred. "And your husband, here, is he a good dancer or is he clumsy like Fernando?"

Sydney and Gage exchanged a quick, "What the heck is he talking about?" look, but it passed quickly as Gage answered for them. "I'm pretty quick on my feet."

"Good," Ehrlich nodded. "If that's the case, the two of you should consider favoring us with a little bit of a dance exhibition at our end-of-session ball."

"There's an end-of-session ball?" Sydney's voice was more pained than interested.

"Oh yes," he replied quickly. "We find that it's a nice send-off for our couples before they take what they've learned here home with them. It tends to be a night of romance and fun."

"Well in that case we can't possibly refuse your request," Gage told him graciously, wincing in pain as Sydney's foot connected with his knee under the table, though the doctor didn't seem to notice.

"Wonderful!" Ehrlich clapped his hands together. Then he glanced at his watch and said, "Oh my! We'll have to discuss the details later – I have to get all of you moving on to your afternoon sessions."

When he'd gone, Sydney hissed, "What did you just get us into?"

"Relax, Syd," Gage assured her in his easiest tone. "I fully intend to have the case wrapped up and for us to be back in Dallas by the time the end-of-session ball rolls around."

"We'd better," she told him grimly, "or it won't be Fernando who ends up with a broken leg – it'll be you."

"Come on," he protested lightly. "It's not like it's a big deal anyway - I'm a good dancer and so are you. We could pull it off if we had to."

"You mean _I'm_ a good dancer," she corrected him wryly, the teasing twinkle creeping back into her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded. "I'm a great dancer!"

"Great is a stretch," she responded. "I mean, you're quick on your feet and all like you told Dr. Ehrlich, but dancing isn't really your thing. If I were you, I'd stick with the martial arts."

"I disagree!" Gage bridled.

Sydney's response was to chuckle and say, "Whatever you say, Gage."

The other couples were getting up to leave the cafeteria and the Rangers stood to join them. Gage was still arguing as they did so.

"You're wrong, Syd," he kept his voice low so as not to draw any attention to his use of her real name.

She laughed again. "Okay, you're right and I'm wrong. Whatever!" She tossed her hair back and headed for the door. "I don't want to argue about this, Gage."

"Fine," he drew himself up, "But whether or not you agree with me about my dancing abilities, there's one thing you can't disagree with me about when it comes to dancing in general."

Sydney crooked an eyebrow at him, awaiting his conclusion with a challenging expression on her face. "Oh yeah?"

With a nearly evil tone, he told her, "You and me, Syd - we move well together."

He waited for the comment to register on her face, enjoyed the surprised and offended reaction that appeared, then brushed past, grinning slyly to himself. She may have thought she'd won that battle, but he'd had one more weapon up his sleeve that she hadn't known about. If all else failed, he knew that an innuendo was an ace in the hole – things like that always made Sydney uncomfortable and were guaranteed to stop her in her tracks. It wasn't the nicest thing to do, he knew, but he was competitive and hated to lose their verbal sparring matches. Sure he'd pay for it later, but the moment was rather sweet while it lasted.

*

True to form, Sydney was still miffed fifteen minutes later when she emerged stealthily from Dr. Ehrlich's office, having successfully bugged his phone while Gage kept watch in the hallway for anyone who might interrupt her. She stepped out and looked both ways to double check that no one was around before giving Gage a disapproving frown to let him know she was still unhappy, followed by an affirmative nod to show she'd been successful.

Gage ignored the frown and glanced at his watch. "We'd better get to our sessions before we're missed."

"Right," Sydney nodded and both strode off down the hallway, though Gage noticed that she kept herself a bit apart from him, her demeanor still aloof. His comment had stung a bit more than he'd intended, he supposed. He'd have to apologize later for it – it was a game with them, after all.

When they reached the hallway that led in opposite directions to their assigned session rooms, the pair parted with a perfunctory nod and Gage's off-handed, "See you for dinner."

He didn't, however, realize how far away in time dinner actually was until he read the chalkboard in the "Unity Room" that told the husbands what the topic for the session would be. To make matters worse, the words were enough to make him almost believe in karma. They read: "Today's Topic: Are You Too Competitive with Your Mate?"

"You have got to be kidding me," he muttered emphatically under his breath, not noticing Dr. Ehrlich stepping up behind him as he entered the room.

"What's that, Mr. Parker?" Ehrlich wanted to know.

"I, uh," Gage faltered, then settled on, "I said: 'Finally we're getting free.' You know, free of the wives so we can say things that are on our minds without worrying about offending them…"

He trailed off but Ehrlich seemed surprisingly appeased by the answer and moved quickly to the front of the room, leaving Gage to take a seat next to his put upon comrade, Mr. Tyler. 

"How's it going?" Gage tried to act as though he hadn't just said something completely stupid and gave the man a nod of greeting.

"My first two hours of peace all day," was the response as Tyler moved to take his seat.

"Okay then," Gage swung his chair around to face the front of the room, noticing that Ehrlich looked ready to begin his lecture.

"Welcome to our session for husbands only," the doctor began, flashing another meaningless smile. "Today we're going to discuss competition in the household between husbands and wives. Competition is bad for a healthy marriage because you're supposed to be playing on the same team. It's supposed to be the two of you versus the world when you're married and you can't very well do so if you're too busy battling each other, now can you?" He clasped his hands together in what appeared to be rapture as he continued. "I'd like to begin with a question for all of you that will get to what is often the primary reason for competition between two partners. How many of you husbands make more than your wives?"

Gage put his hand in the air, albeit a bit nervously because he didn't know what to expect from the men around him. He knew for a fact that he made slightly more than Sydney did for the sole reason that he had more seniority as a Ranger than she did, however. Around him, only four other hands went up – and Gage was shocked to see that one of them belonged to Mr. Tyler.

"I see," Ehrlich nodded, taking a silent count. "And that means that out of the sixteen of you present here, only slightly more than one quarter makes more than their wives. Welcome to the twenty-first century, gentlemen. Today's women are a different generation from your mothers and grandmothers and they work hard for what they earn. What's more, they're proud of it and themselves. This is an issue all husbands should know to tread lightly around, as by competing with your wife over salary issues, you're stepping on her delicate pride. And competition, my friends, always leads to confrontation."

Gage stifled a snicker at the doctor's use of the term "delicate pride" and thought of his partner. Sydney had pride all right – there was no disputing that. But delicate? Delicate and Sydney Cooke were not words that were ever found in the same sentence together. Sydney wasn't delicate, Gage mused. She was tough; she was strong; she was fearless. Yet she was also extremely feminine at the same time so if there was anything delicate about her, he concluded, it would have to be that line she walked between extreme toughness and femininity. It certainly made her attractive – albeit frightening at times.

Ehrlich stepped closer to the group, as though he was a father about to impart sage wisdom to his sons. "Let me ask another question of you now that isn't related to money: How many of you are intimidated by your wives in one way or another?"

Gage felt his face begin to turn a bit red and he looked at the floor as he half raised his hand slowly into the air. Silence filled the room and, upon inspection, he was shocked to see fifteen other hands in the air as well. (Beside him, Mr. Tyler's hand was raised the highest of anyone's.)

"Ah," Ehrlich mused. "Interesting. Let's investigate this further, shall we? Put your hands down if you are intimidated by your wife because she makes more money than you do."

Three hands went down at this and he continued, "Put your hands down if you don't like entering into conflicts with her. She has, as many of your male friends might say, made you 'whipped.'" 

Eleven hands went slowly down while Mr. Tyler was quick to return his to his lap. Gage looked around and realized that his was the only hand still in the air.

"Mr. Parker," Ehrlich singled the burly Ranger out, "would you care to share with us your particular reason for being intimidated by your wife?"

"Well," Gage swallowed and looked nervously around before giving his answer, "she…well – she could kick my butt, doctor."

Chuckles erupted around Gage, though most were muted as though no one wanted to be caught laughing. He felt his ears turn redder but didn't add anything. He had, after all, told the truth – Sydney could break him in half if she was in the right mood to do so and he knew it.

"I see," Dr. Ehrlich did not seem to see the humor in Gage's response, nor did he appear to believe him – which was made apparent by his follow-up question: "Let me get this straight, Mr. Parker – you are afraid of physical harm from your wife?"

The tone with which the question was delivered was not sincere, but rather implied what the chuckles of Gage's fellow "husbands" had – it asked how a man of Gage's stature could possibly be afraid of someone as diminutive as Sydney. But, Gage reminded himself, they hadn't seen her knock out two enormous bikers with a broken pool cue either. Still, Gage figured since he'd already told the truth, he might as well stick with it.

Emphatically, he replied, "Sometimes I am." The words didn't seem like enough, though, so he added with a shrug, "She has a mean roundhouse kick."

More chuckles followed this remark but Gage kept his eyes leveled on Ehrlich's face. The doctor stared straight back, as though sizing Gage up to see if he was telling the truth. Finally, he seemed to realize the sincerity of the remark and a slow smile split his face. Yet there was something else there, Gage realized. He didn't know what, but it made the Ranger part of him suspicious.

"Well then, Mr. Parker," Ehrlich said flatly to brush the line of questioning away, "I suggest you stay out of range."

Gage snorted at that and the other men smiled, but the doctor didn't allow them any time to dwell on what Gage was certain he considered an interruption to his very serious session. Instead, he pushed forward, saying, "The idea here, then, is for all of you to figure out why you are intimidated by your wives and how you can remedy this. As long as you are intimidated, you can't be an equal partner in the relationship and if you're not an equal partner, you're marriage isn't truly healthy."

Beside Gage, Mr. Tyler let out an enormous sigh and the Ranger glanced sideways at him to see if he was all right. The little man was sitting somewhat slumped in the chair but he seemed to be completely absorbed in the lecture, so Gage paid him no more attention.

"So what can we do to improve our situations, gentlemen?" Ehrlich was asking from his position at the front of the room. "What can we do to become less intimidated by our wives?"

The husbands were silent so the doctor pressed them. "Come on – someone must have an idea!"

Finally someone spoke up – and it took Gage a full ten seconds to realize that the voice he was hearing belonged to none other than Mr. Tyler.

"I know that I'm intimidated by my wife because I don't always understand why she does the things she does," the man ventured. "She gets confrontational and we end up arguing."

Gage fought the urge to stare directly at him, shocked at hearing so many words come out of his mouth at once.

"Excellent, Mr. Tyler!" Ehrlich exclaimed. "Wonderful! Gentlemen, Mr. Tyler had just hit the nail on the head with this one! The most common reason for husbands being intimidated by their wives – roundhouse kicks excluded" (the doctor glared at Gage as he said this) "is because they don't understand their motivation and they don't know what to do when she confronts them. This is crucial information, men. Today's woman is expected to be outspoken and tough if she's going to be successful in the working world and we've already established that most of your wives have jobs where they make a good living and more money than you do. They're successful – successful because they are tough at work. They compete to get ahead there and when they come home to you, it's difficult for them to shut that competitiveness off and you become the recipients of their working demeanors. Does everyone understand this?"

Everyone nodded, including Gage, who was thinking about his partner. He'd acknowledged her toughness earlier and surprised himself by agreeing with Ehrlich's assessment – it was at least true for Sydney. In defense of her, Gage realized full well that she had to be that way in order to be a good Ranger otherwise her coworkers (most of whom were male) would look at her differently, as someone who wasn't an equal. And her attitude worked – Gage had never entered a situation with her where he'd been worried that she couldn't handle herself. In fact, the few times that he had been worried hadn't been while she was beside him entering everyday situations, but rather had been when she'd been undercover and acting like a poor defenseless waitress or showgirl (her typical undercover assignments). Still, he often found himself wishing that she could step out of her Ranger persona when they were off duty – he felt like he'd end up with fewer bruises that way, both physical _and_ mental.

"So what can we do to remedy this?" Ehrlich continued. "What can we do to show our wives that it is okay for them to be less confrontational with us so we can be less competitive?"

Silence ensued again – and again it was Mr. Tyler who bailed the other husbands out. "It seems to me that we should be more supportive."

"And how would we do that?" Ehrlich pressed him.

"Well," Tyler began, "what if we become less confrontational ourselves?"

"Terrific!" Ehrlich clapped his hands together. "Mr. Tyler, you are certainly on a roll today. Gentlemen, what Mr. Tyler said is absolutely correct. Confrontation breeds confrontation – it's the proverbial snowball effect. Likewise, non-confrontation results in non-confrontation. Therefore, the next time your wife says something that could begin something negative, instead of taking the bait, let it go and see what happens. I'll be she backs down in return."

Gage stifled a snort as he pictured Sydney "backing down" from a chance to argue with him. They enjoyed their verbal sparring matches far too much for her to give in to him – besides, giving in would be to cede the competition and both hated to lose. Still, Gage recalled how upset Sydney had been when he'd pulled the innuendo card after lunch – he'd not played fair and it had upset her. Maybe there was something to this backing down from confrontation after all. 

Gage mulled the idea over in his head for the rest of the session and was still thinking about it when he exited the room and headed down the hall to meet up with his partner and return to their cabin. She met him outside the door to the "Serenity Room" looking quite introspective herself and he was confused as to why – until he read the title of the women's afternoon session on their chalkboard. It read: "Topic for the Day – Your Husband and Other Women – When Jealousy is Justified."

__

It's going to be a long night, Gage's inner voice told him as he swung into step beside her. _It's going to be a very long night._

I suppose you'd all like to know exactly what happened in Sydney's session, wouldn't you? Stay tuned…


	4. For Wives Only

Author's Note: The line pertaining to meat loaf uttered by Mrs. Ehrlich doesn't belong to me – I borrowed it from Jeff Foxworthy. Thanks, Jeff!

"You have got to be kidding me," Sydney muttered as she read the topic for her session on the board. She read it aloud, "Topic for the Day – Your Husband and Other Women – When Jealousy is Justified."

_I wonder if I could still sneak out_, she thought – just as a middle-aged woman came up behind her looking professional and brisk. Sydney's brain immediately countered her earlier thought. _I guess not._

"I'm Mrs. Ehrlich," the woman introduced herself with a wide white smile and a blink of eyelashes too long and perfect to be real. "Welcome to our wives-only session. And you are…?"

"Elena Parker," Sydney told her blandly. The woman was married to Dr. Ehrlich – which explained a lot about her to Sydney right away. Her mannerisms were similar to his and Sydney had a sinking feeling that even without the good doctor overseeing this particular session she was in for another healthy dose of what she'd found in the morning exercise. Salvation would not occur anytime soon and it was probably in her best interests to smile and play along as she had earlier – only this time without Gage to at least keep things amusing.

"A pleasure to meet you, Elena," the woman said brightly. "How long have you and your husband been at Arroyo Grande?"

She was ushering Sydney into the room as she spoke, as though sensing the petite Ranger's eagerness to slip away unnoticed and Sydney gritted her teeth, knowing that she was in for two hours of what would undoubtedly amount to pure hell. She never really went in for anything that could count as female bonding – not since she was a little girl anyway. But female bonding that occurred in the time period between elementary school and high school consisted mostly of slumber party antics and gossiping about cute boys, things that were acceptable for that particular age group and that could be treated like the frivolities that they were. Since then, however, Sydney had discovered that the gossiping didn't change while in the meantime she had. Such things lacked importance to her now, though she couldn't exactly pinpoint why. She'd simply changed, she supposed. It made things easy, then, that most of her coworkers were men. She actually found it refreshing to deal with them on a regular basis if only because they tended to be easier to read than women and the gossip factor was much less. Men were less calculating, she'd discovered and certainly more likely to settle any difficulties they had with their fists, the predictability of which aided Sydney's role in the justice process because she never had to waste time guessing what her coworkers would do in any given situation.

It wasn't as though Sydney lacked women friends, though – she certainly spent enough time with Walker's wife Alex and Jimmy's fiancée Erika, much of it spent doing what could certainly be considered gossiping (talk which usually about the men in their lives) and talking about the kind of things that only women could talk about together. Still, though she always felt at ease with Alex and Erika, Sydney preferred the company of men, the reason for which she concluded was simply because they required less of her. Men never pushed her to expand and verbalize at length about the things that she felt; they simply took in what she said, absorbed and filed it, and accepted it. Women, on the other hand, expected more. In fact, the only exception to the men versus women rule that she'd found so far was Gage. Unlike any of her other coworkers and most other men that she knew, he pushed her to the limits of expression. In fact, he seemed to gain pleasure from putting her on the spot and forcing her to think at length about things she preferred to push to the outer recesses of her mind – usually things that had to do with exactly how she felt about her partner.

She snapped her mind back to the question she'd just been asked and managed to respond pleasantly: "This is our first full day."

"Ah, I thought you were a new face to our little group," Mrs. Ehrlich beamed and pointed to a chair near the front of the room, which Sydney reluctantly took. "We're glad to have you with us."

"Good afternoon, ladies," Mrs. Ehrlich clapped her hands to gain the attention of the sixteen women in the room and Sydney winced inwardly, instantly reminded of Dr. Ehrlich in the morning session. Yes, Mrs. Ehrlich was certainly like her husband all right.

"I'm sure you've all read today's topic on the board," Ehrlich continued, "and I'm also sure that everyone has something to say about it. We all have husbands and we all are very aware that they tend to have roving eyes whenever they see an attractive woman, whether she's on television, in a restaurant, or just walking by on the street. I know for myself personally, whenever Dr. Ehrlich makes a comment about another woman, I tend to feel a twinge of that green-eyed monster. For instance, just last week we had just returned from the movies and I was serving him my famous meatloaf when he said, 'My, but isn't that Sigourney Weaver a beautiful woman.' Now, I know full well that he and I have been married for twenty-seven years and he's not going anywhere, but it didn't change the feeling I got right at that moment. When he said that, I honestly had to fight a distinct urge to say, 'Well why don't you have Sigourney Weaver make you a meatloaf then!' Where do these impulses come from, ladies?"

No one spoke, but Sydney noticed that several of the women nodded in agreement with her words. She thought about her own experiences with Gage – an automatic response considering not only was he pretending to be her husband for the sake of their assignment, but he was the man she ended up spending the most time with both on and off duty. And in that moment of reflection, she could recall several instances when she'd wanted not only to say something similar to what Mrs. Ehrlich had wanted to but, had it been her in the situation, Gage would have been wearing the meatloaf. What was more, she probably would have tracked down the woman Gage had mentioned and made _her_ wear the meatloaf too. Yet though she agreed with the idea of having twinges of what she had to admit – even to herself - were jealousy, she had no idea why she felt that way in the first place. For all the time they spent together, it wasn't as though they were a romantic couple – a couple, certainly, as they seemed to do a lot of things together, but there was no romance whatsoever. In fact, under normal circumstances when people asked them if they were married, the question was usually met with choking sounds from both Sydney and Gage and a reply question spoken in unison: "To each other?"

Sydney waited with what amounted to trepidation to see what Mrs. Ehrlich would say next. After all, she and Gage weren't married so whatever advice was about to be rendered would undoubtedly be of no use to her whatsoever.

From near the window, Mrs. Tyler's hand went up and Sydney fought the urge to say the word "Figures" aloud. The woman had an expression of pure triumph on her face and Sydney felt her trepidation instantly disappear – only to be replaced by dread.

"What do you think, Mrs. Tyler?" Mrs. Ehrlich asked.

"Well," Mrs. Tyler straightened primly. "I think that because we, as women, tend to be nesters, we tend to be very protective of our hearth and home. Our husbands are a part of that and therefore we view anything taking their attention away from us as a threat to our carefully-constructed nests."

"Excellent analysis!" Mrs. Ehrlich beamed. She turned back to the group. "She is absolutely right, ladies."

Sydney felt a pained expression begin to creep across her face and she quickly stifled it in favor of a neutral, listening face. _Nesters?_ There were a lot of things she thought of herself as and a nester was certainly not one of them.

Mrs. Ehrlich was pressing on, excited. "Let's push this idea a bit more though – shall we? _Why_ do we feel that our nests are threatened? Why aren't we secure enough in them to believe that our unions are impenetrable to such threats?"

Again no one spoke – and again Mrs. Tyler's hand flashed in the air.

"Mrs. Tyler," Mrs. Ehrlich acknowledged her.

"I think," Mrs. Tyler began, "that the media is to blame. We are constantly bombarded with images of perfect women and none of us feel that we can measure up to such standards. We have compulsions to compare ourselves to these women – and any women we come into contact with, really. So when our husbands look at other women, it causes these insecurities to become full-blown."

"Another wonderful analysis!" Mrs. Ehrlich seemed nearly unable to contain herself as she congratulated Mrs. Tyler. She stepped closer to the group of women and spoke rapidly. "She has just hit the nail on the head, ladies. Society holds us to tremendous standards and the only thing stricter is those standards to which we hold ourselves. Our jealousy in situations like the one I mentioned and like the ones I'm sure you all thought of after I told you that story is a knee-jerk reaction to where we see ourselves fitting in with those standards."

She clasped her hands together as she prepared to conclude. "The answer to the question posed by today's topic of conversation then, is 'anytime.' Jealousy shows that you still care about your husband enough to want to fight for him and though it is a feeling bred out of insecurity, it isn't anything we can't begin to fix right now, here, today. Are you with me?"

Sydney saw eager nods all around her and swallowed nervously. Mrs. Ehrlich hurried over to a corner of the room and picked up a cardboard box, which she carried back over to the group and placed before them on a small table. From within, she lifted a pile of small hand mirrors and then several stacks of fashion magazines and placed them on the table, stowing the box underneath. Sydney instantly didn't like where this was going.

Mrs. Ehrlich's mouth opened – she was going to say it. Sydney knew it – she was going to say the words that she dreaded…

"In order to begin the process of taking down our insecurities," Mrs. Ehrlich began, "we're each going to take a magazine or two and a hand mirror. Then I want each one of you to find five pictures of actresses or models and compare yourselves to them. The catch is this: I want each of you to find three things that you like more about yourselves than them. Try to stick with the physical for the moment – maybe you like your nose better than Faith Hill's or you like that you're taller than Michelle Pfeiffer is. Tear those pictures out of the magazines and keep them – we'll reveal our conclusions to each other at the end of the session."

As Sydney sat down with her mirror and magazines, the single thought in her head was that she hoped Gage was having a worse time than she was.

*

Gage was in a halfway cheery mood when he met her outside of the room, which only did more to darken Sydney's. Having to stand up in front of fifteen other women and tell them that she liked herself better than Gwyneth Paltrow because Gwyneth didn't have enough curves had been quite possibly the most embarrassing moment of her adult life. She'd reached a conclusion as she'd sat down that the sooner she and Gage wrapped things up and got out of there, the better – if only in the interest of saving the last few shreds of Sydney's sanity. And if the Ehrlichs happened to be the guilty parties responsible for the black market organ ring, Sydney had decided that she would probably enjoy the process of arresting them, if only in revenge for the torture they'd inflicted on her in the last twenty-four hours.

"So how was your session?" Gage asked conversationally.

"I really don't want to talk about it," she told him with a shake of her head.

"Come on," he probed, "it couldn't have been as bad as mine."

"Oh yeah?" she countered with a smirk, then decided to up the ante and spill the whole story. It was Gage, after all – he'd probably get the truth out of her sooner or later anyway and competing with him usually made her feel better. At this point she was willing to try just about anything.

She asked him dryly, "Did Dr. Ehrlich make you hold mirrors up to your faces while deciding which of your physical characteristics you like better than famous actors? And did you then have to present your conclusions to everyone else in your session?"

"Um, no," Gage's expression bordered on horrified and yet at the same time he was trying to hide a smile. 

"I didn't think so," Sydney told him, then waited for his response – which would undoubtedly come in the form of a challenge.

He opened his mouth as though to do just that, then paused. When he finally spoke, he said, "I guess we'd better work on getting to the bottom of this case so we can get out of here then."

"You can say that again," Sydney agreed, startled to her core that he hadn't accepted her challenge. It wasn't like Gage at all – what had they gone over in his session to make him act this way? Had the title of Dr. Ehrlich's talk been "Confrontation 101 – Avoid it at All Costs?"

"Come on," Gage told her. "Let's sneak into the file room and retrieve the data from the cameras. Then we can head back to the cabin and start piecing that together with our files before dinner."

"Okay," she nodded, still confused by his behavior.

Getting back into the file room was easy enough. The office help was preoccupied with answering the phone and talking with couples who had just emerged from their sessions and had questions and had no time to notice the pair as they slipped stealthily through the door marked "Employees Only." Once inside, it took but a few minutes to retrieve their equipment and stow it inside the large three-ring binders that each spouse had to carry to their sessions. Getting out of the room, however, proved to be significantly more challenging.

Sydney swore the coast was clear when she poked her head out the door – and it was, but only temporarily. From the front lobby, she heard Dr. Ehrlich's voice as he told one of the receptionists, "I think that information is in the file room. Let me go check."

Sydney blanched. His footsteps were approaching rapidly and she knew there was no way she and Gage could get out of the room before he got there and began to question them. Ways to get out of the situation flashed through her head, none of them incredibly good and in the moment of decision, she winced inwardly and went with the lesser of the evils she'd thought up.

"Gage," she whirled and turned to face her partner, whose boyish face was a study in confusion as he watched her pull her head in the door and close it softly behind her.

"Wha-?" he managed to get out before Sydney took a deep breath and launched herself at him, locking her lips onto his own and pulling him into a close embrace. She pulled him towards her, then felt herself bump up against a short file cabinet behind her. Inwardly, she shrugged and figured that she was already in pretty deep, she might as well keep going. Her acrobatic abilities came into play then, as she jumped backwards with enough momentum to seat herself on top of the cabinet while not breaking her kiss with Gage. To his credit, he seemed to understand the situation quite well (or at least she hoped he did) and was playing along in great form – almost too great, she decided, as he stepped closer to her and their kiss deepened. Were it anyone but Gage, Sydney might have thought that this embrace could lead to something. Good thing it was him – there would be no strings attached afterward.

__

The things we do for our work, Sydney thought with a hint of irony as she heard Dr. Ehrlich's hand come to rest on the doorknob. Slowly it turned and she heard him step into the room.

"What the…?" he demanded, his voice high and startled.

Sydney seized the opportunity to break the kiss and stared at the doctor with what she hoped was complete surprise and embarrassment. Well, at least the embarrassment part would be easy.

"Dr. Ehrlich!" she stammered.

"Sir, we uh…didn't…" Gage played along.

"What are you doing in here?" the doctor wanted to know.

Gage's face broke into a grin at the question and he began, "Well, sir, we were…"

"Never mind," Ehrlich cut him off with a wave of his hand. "I know _what _you were doing but why are you in here of all places?"

Sydney stepped in to cover that one. "To be honest, doctor, our cabin was too far away. We've been apart since lunch and we couldn't wait that long."

"Couldn't wait that long…" Disbelief washed over the doctor's face and he was having trouble constructing complete thoughts, Sydney could tell. He stood rooted in place, his hand still resting on the doorknob.

"We're sorry for any inconvenience," Gage grabbed Sydney's hand and scooped up their notebooks, ushering her to the door and past the stunned doctor.

"We won't let it happen again," Sydney threw the words over her shoulder as they hurried out.

As they rushed down the hall, Sydney could hear Ehrlich repeating himself in the now empty room: "Couldn't wait that long…"

*

"That was close!" Sydney collapsed dramatically onto the couch while Gage bolted the door of their cabin behind them.

"Yeah," he breathed, leaning against the door with relief. Then he turned to her quizzically, "So where did your little moment of inspiration come from?"

"Huh?" she asked.

"That thing back there in the room," he told her. "Whatever possessed you?"

"Gage, we're at a resort for married people," she told him in a logical tone of voice. "Do you have a better explanation for why we might be in the file room that doesn't involve explaining our surveillance equipment?"

"No," he shrugged, then moved to take one of the chairs. "But…"

"But what?" she wanted to know.

"Syd, you have to admit that was pretty intense," he finally managed to say.

"This coming from the man who only this morning told me that we 'move well together,'" Sydney laughed at him. "Come on, Gage – don't tell me you're all talk."

He chuckled then too. "Did I seem like I was all talk back there?"

Sydney felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. "Not exactly." She felt a tension creep over their silence and instantly seized the opportunity to change the subject.

"Don't you think we should find out what's on our tapes?" she asked her partner.

Gage nodded and seemed glad for the shift in topic himself. "Probably."

Sydney stood and began hooking up the necessary equipment to view the surveillance tapes on the laptop they'd brought. She was nearly finished when Gage asked her another question.

"Um, Syd?" he ventured.

"Hmm?" she responded, preoccupied with the equipment.

"You don't think there's anything on these tapes that resembles _our_ little act in the file room, do you?" he asked tentatively, the tops of his ears turning pink.

"Gage!" she rebuked him. "Of course not!"

"I hope you're right about that," he said, not fully convinced. He pulled the other chair over for her to sit on so both could see the screen.

_Me too,_ Sydney agreed silently, her finger only hesitating a moment before she pushed "play."


	5. True Teamwork

Unfortunately, the tapes appeared to be a dead end as the Rangers viewed the day's footage, noticing that the only people who entered and exited the room were the office help and Dr. Ehrlich himself. (Thankfully Sydney had disconnected the cameras before they'd entered and begun what otherwise could result in a very long and embarrassing explanation upon their return to Ranger headquarters.) Yet as they approached the end of the final tape, both Sydney and Gage suddenly spotted something that caused both to inhale sharply. Sydney clicked the pause button reflexively, freezing the image before them on the screen, then turned to Gage.

"Do you see what I see?" she asked, incredulous.

"Uh-huh," he didn't avert his eyes from the screen. "I don't get it, but I see it."

Sydney shook her head with disbelief and looked sideways at him. "Why is Mary Tyler in the file room?"

Gage turned to her and she knew that, despite the significant stride their investigation had just taken, he was about to take their conversation in a different direction. Dubious, she watched the Cheshire cat grin spread from one corner of his mouth to the other as he said in a very elementary tone, "Well, Syd, it's very possible that we're not the only ones who discovered another use for the file room. It's possible that we're about to witness something similar to our earlier activity, though I for one don't think that it will be nearly as interesting..."

Sydney frowned and cut him off, though her tone let him know she was willing to play along - for the moment anyway. "She's opening a file cabinet, Gage! I hardly think that she's waiting to seduce her husband in there."

Gage shrugged, his expression pure playful innocence. "You never know, Syd – some people go in for that sort of thing."

Amused horror slid over her face and she cried, "Gage!"

"What?" he wanted to know, chuckling. He knew it might count as competing with her, but the instant the comment came to him, he knew he couldn't resist adding it – as well as the next words that sprang to mind: "It worked for you, didn't it?"

Sydney must not have been surprised by his words because they were met with a characteristic roll of her dark eyes. She completely surprised him, however, when she met his challenge – and upped the ante – by lowering her tone and saying, "If you thought that was something, you should see what I can do in a closet."

Gage swallowed reflexively and felt his ears start to burn. Had those words just come from the lips of Sydney Cooke? _Forget letting her win_, the voice in his head intoned. _She just kicked your butt, Francis. Retreat and regroup if you know what's good for you._

Trying not to sound as shocked and embarrassed as he felt, he said weakly, "Okay, then. Moving back to the tape here…"

Sydney's eyes narrowed and he could tell she was rather pleased with herself. She wouldn't rub it in the way he would have, he knew. Instead, she agreed with him. "Right. The tape."

Gage leaned back in his chair, his face contorted in thought as he regained his focus on the situation at hand. Thinking out loud, he said, "I don't get it. We swore up and down that it would have to be Dr. Ehrlich behind the whole thing – after all, he has more access to the couples who come through here."

Sydney nodded, all business herself now, and said, "Yes, but we don't know that she's acting alone. Just because she's in the room by herself doesn't mean that her husband isn't in on it with her – and it doesn't rule out the doctor either."

Gage nodded in agreement. "I'd better call Trivette and have him do a background check on the Tylers."

"Right," Sydney told him. "While you do that, I'll pull Ehrlich's file and see if I can find anything that connects them outside of Arroyo Grande."

Gage gave her a nod of agreement and began dialing. Trivette greeted him with a cheerful, "And how are you and the little wife doing?"

Gage gave a false laugh and said, "Never better – but if Syd ever hears you call her that, I hope you realize you're a dead man."

Sydney's ears perked up at this but she gave Gage only the barest glance up from scouring the files that she'd spread across the bed. He gave her a reassuring grin and a shake of his head to indicate that it was nothing to worry about, though she seemed more resigned to the running joke than worried about it.

"Yeah," Trivette agreed. "And I wouldn't just get it from Sydney – she'd tell Erika and I'd be sleeping on the couch for the next ten years or so."

"You're a wise man, Trivette," Gage told him gravely.

"So what can I do for you?" Trivette asked Gage companionably and Gage could picture him leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on his desk.

"I need you to run a check on a couple who are here at the resort with us," Gage said. "Their names are Bob and Mary Tyler and they're supposedly from Houston."

"That's all you can give me?" Trivette sounded doubtful.

"Sorry, it's the best I can do," Gage replied apologetically. "I realize that there could be two hundred Bob and Mary Tyler's in Houston but that's all I have to go…"

He trailed off as Sydney signaled him from her position on the bed, waving a slip of paper at him. "Hold on a sec, Trivette."

"What's this?" he mouthed at her, dropping the bottom of the phone away from his mouth.

"Their address," she hissed, thrusting the paper into his hand.

"How?" he wanted to know.

"Later," she waved him off.

"Um, scratch that, Trivette," Gage spoke into the phone, sounding surprised by his partner's resourcefulness. "We're looking for Bob and Mary Tyler of 34332 Desert Glen Drive."

"Houston, right?" Trivette sounded as though he was writing it all down.

"Right," Gage confirmed.

"I'll run a check and have it for you by tonight," Trivette told the blond Ranger.

"Great," Gage told him. "I'll call you when we get back from our evening session."

"Evening session?" Trivette repeated. "Just out of curiosity, what is it that you do at an evening session?"

"We're at a couples' resort, Trivette," Gage told him haughtily. "We do couples things."

"You have no idea what happens at the evening session, do you?" Trivette asked after a moment's pause.

"Not a clue," Gage admitted.

"Talk to you later, buddy," Trivette hung up the phone, chuckling as he did so.

Gage clicked the hang-up button on the cell phone and turned to his partner. His eyes rested on her for a moment before she realized that he was staring and when she looked up, her dark eyes widened in surprise, then she frowned suspiciously and asked, "What?"

He pursed his lips, thoughtful, then told her in his best imitation of Ricky Ricardo, "Lucy, you got some 'splainin' ta do!"

Her eyes rolled back and she chuckled. "The Tylers' address was forced on me after our session this afternoon. Mary would 'luv' for us to stay in touch after we go home – you know, go to dinner with them and do 'couples' things."

Her smile grew a bit sarcastic as she finished and Gage shook his head at her, seizing another opportunity to play. "I don't think you're giving her a fair chance, Syd. I saw another side of Bob in the husbands' session today and I have to say I don't think he's all that bad. Who knows? We just might like spending time with them once…"

Sydney interrupted him sharply. "Gage, aren't you forgetting two significant details?"

"What's that?" he looked at her absent-mindedly, as though he'd lost himself in his last train of thought.

Sydney was careful to speak slowly and clearly: "For one thing, we're not actually married and for another, we may have just added them to our list of suspects."

Gage opened his mouth to say something when she suddenly leapt to her feet and cut him off mid-breath. All he managed to say was, "What is it?"

"Oh my gosh," she said the words half to herself, her gaze distracted and wandering. First she looked at the files in front of her, then at Gage, and then turned her focus to the wall, her eyes wide.

"_What_?" Gage asked more forcefully. He could see the wheels turning in her head and wanted to know what they were working on.

"That's it," she still was directing her words to her own ears, but they seemed to be coming to her lips faster now. She whirled to face her partner. "Gage, we've been focusing so much attention on Ehrlich that we've completely missed the point of the case."

"Which is…" he fought exasperation with only a little success. Only Sydney could make him so frustrated so fast and he moved closer to her as though to pull the words out of her mouth with the force of his will.

"Gage," her voice became high and excited, "the couples aren't attacked while they're here, are they? They're attacked afterwards – _when they go home._"

"And Mary Tyler gave you her address so you can contact each other once you get home," Gage finished her explanation in that unique way he had of always reading her mind.

Sydney nodded grimly. "Because if I contact her, there's a good chance I'll invite them to dinner – possibly even that we become friends – which eventually tells them where we live."

"And if they know where we live, they'll know right where to come when they need organs to sell on the black market," Gage nodded.

"Exactly," she agreed.

"Why didn't we see it before?" Gage wanted to know.

"I think a better question is this: why are they working together on this when they appear to hate each other?" Sydney put in. "Or even why attack people from couples' therapy in the first place?"

"Maybe if we weren't so busy fixing our couple problems we'd have time to ask them," Gage shrugged.

"You mean if we'd been doing our jobs," Sydney corrected him wryly.

"Basically," he agreed, then flashed her one of the twelve-year-old boy grins she had come to love so much.

"I suppose we have been just a little busy with our sessions and everything else," Sydney reminded him, glancing at her watch. "And speaking of busy, it's time for dinner."

"Great, I'm starving," he announced.

They started for the door and Gage opened his mouth to add something, only to have Sydney cut him off, pointing her finger at him and saying, "And please don't make any rude remarks about being busy in the file room – I'd just as soon move on from that."

Gage's jaw dropped in feigned innocence and clasped a hand to his chest. "Syd, I'm hurt."

"You will be if you bring it up," she raised her eyebrows pointedly. "Besides, you'll get over it - I hear they're serving prime rib for dinner tonight."

She opened the door and stepped through, Gage on her heels, seeming to have forgotten his earlier ideas of mischief as he asked, "So do you think it's all you can eat?"

*

True to his word, Trivette had information for the Rangers when they returned from dinner. The pair was supposed to be at their evening session in five minutes, but had hurried back to contact headquarters in their eagerness to crack the case, using the excuse that Sydney, aka Elena, wanted to grab a sweatshirt. They were due in the Serenity Room shortly.

Gage pulled a notepad over within reach and began making notes as he listened to his coworker.

"Bob and Mary Tyler are not actually Bob and Mary Tyler," Trivette informed Gage, adding, "but then you probably have figured that out by now."

"We were beginning to get that suspicion," Gage agreed. "So who are they really?"

"Loretta and Frank Timmerson," Trivette replied. "And let me warn you that you're treading on dangerous territory with these two, Gage. Frank Timmerson was a respected physician in Philadelphia before they're only child died of some sort of inherited heart defect four years ago. She could have been saved with a transplant but she was gone before her turn on the list came up – or so they were told. It came out later that her name had actually never made it to the list because the doctor who was supposed to put it on forgot."

"You're kidding," Gage breathed.

"Nope," Trivette replied grimly. "And that very doctor turned up dead three weeks later – missing all of his major organs."

"What?" Gage gasped. His tone steadied and he asked dubiously, "Trivette, have you been watching too many episodes of _The X-Files_?"

"Believe me, this story's too crazy _not_ to be real," Trivette assured him, his own tone revealing a grave degree of disbelief. "They found the body in the dumpster of his very own hospital."

"Were the Tylers – er, the Timmersons – ever charged with anything?" Gage asked.

"There was an investigation, but there wasn't enough evidence to make an arrest," Trivette replied. "Two months later, the Timmersons disappeared."

"And showed up in Houston," Gage finished for him. His voice revealed his slight confusion as he added, "So let me get this straight: their daughter died because of a doctor's negligence and now they're stealing organs from other people to sell on the black market. Are we dealing with a Robin Hood sort of thing here?"

"Most likely," Trivette agreed. "It's a stretch, but it's the only thing that really makes sense when you look at the facts. I'm e-mailing Sydney pictures of the Timmersons so you can confirm it."

"Thanks," Gage said.

"Once you get things confirmed," Trivette told him, "give Walker a call so we can start setting up Phase 2 of this assignment."

"Will do," Gage nodded, hanging up the phone and restoring it to its hiding place in an unmarked box situated behind the Bible in the drawer of the bedside table.

"Trivette said he just e-mailed you pictures of the Timmersons, whom he believes to be the Tylers," he told his partner who was seated at the laptop.

"I just got it," she nodded.

She clicked the mouse a few times and Gage waited a moment before asking, "Well?"

She looked up and locked her dark eyes on his. "It's them all right."

Gage nodded. "Well, now we know where to start on this investigation."

"Yes we do," she pursed her lips in the way that she did whenever she was thoughtful and rested her chin on her hand, looking at him. Neither spoke. Perhaps it was the shock of suddenly realizing just what the case was all about that rendered them silent and pensive, or maybe it was something else. Though they would probably lie under oath if asked, the true root of their brief, yet almost wistful, moment seemed to be better attributed to the fact that as soon as they finished at Arroyo Grande, they would leave its isolation for Dallas. During their short stay, the problems that had plagued them at home had not been as noticeable and both clearly suspected that their differences were only in hiding and would reappear all too soon.

*

Phase 2 of the Rangers' undercover operation would entail catching the culprits in the act of committing a crime. For that to happen, Sydney and Gage both knew full well that they needed to get away from Arroyo Grande and establish housekeeping in a Dallas suburb using their pseudonyms. Now that they knew with reasonable certainty that the Tylers were the suspects they were seeking, it would be the Rangers' task to lure the couple into a trap – which meant seeking out the Tylers' at the evening session instead of hiding from them.

Sydney hesitated as they approached group of seats in the Serenity Room where the Tylers sat, observing that Mrs. Tyler was chatting a mile a minute and seemed to be in excellent form. Mr. Tyler was staring off into the distance, apparently eager for Dr. Ehrlich to come in and interrupt Mary's tirade, but appeared to be nodding in all of the right places to appease his spouse.

Slowing her steps so that Gage was practically walking on top of her, Sydney whispered, "I don't know if I can do this."

"Relax, Shorty," he kept his voice low.

"Ever heard the term 'sugar shock?'" she retorted.

"You're not diabetic," he reminded her.

"After this I might be," she told him. She pasted a fake smile on as she stepped up to the couple and said brightly, "Hi! Can we join you?"

"Please do!" Mary Tyler exclaimed, patting the seat next to her.

"Glad to have you," Bob Tyler gave a relieved smile.

"We're sorry to be late," Gage put in, "but Elena couldn't decide which sweatshirt to wear."

"And John was no help whatsoever," Sydney added, taking the seat Mary had gestured to.

"You look good in everything," Gage told her, his tone even and his blue eyes locking on her face with a gaze that suggested more sincerity than their mock argument implied.

Sydney felt her face flush slightly and was about to reply when she heard Bob Tyler give a disgusted snort beside her. Deciding that a change in topic might be best, she asked brightly, "So what's tonight's topic?"

"We haven't heard yet," Mary replied. "But I'd say we're about to."

She pointed to Dr. Ehrlich, now entering the room with a clipboard in his hand. Sydney grimaced, then quickly remembered herself and said, "Great."

"Last night we took quizzes to see how well we knew our spouses," Mary informed her in a whisper.

"Oh?" Sydney feigned interest. "How did you and Bob do?"

"One hundred percent correct," Mary replied.

"Really?" Sydney didn't have to pretend to be surprised.

"Oh yes," Mary told her sincerely.

There was no time for more conversation then because Dr. Ehrlich clapped his hands to gain everyone's attention.

"Good evening, everyone," he boomed, revealing his trademark smile. "And how were your sessions today?"

A scattering of calls of "Great" and "Just fine" echoed across the room. Sydney and Gage remained silent.

"I bet you're all wondering what this evening's session will entail," Ehrlich continued. "Well don't worry – I won't keep you in suspense. Tonight's session is going to be very simple for you, I hope. We've been talking about our relationships all day. We've been analyzing the way we relate to our spouses and talking things to death."

"Amen," Gage muttered beside Sydney, who elbowed him in the ribs, though gently to show her own agreement.

Ehrlich was still talking. "Tonight, then, I want all of you to work on one part of your relationships that of late may have been neglected. I don't want to go into explicit detail, but I think you all have a very clear idea of what I'm getting at. Therefore, you are all released to your rooms. I'll see you tomorrow."

His face had become slightly pink as he concluded his speech but no one in the room really seemed to notice, as chuckles had begun to erupt from all corners. The only people not laughing were the two Rangers, whose faces were not the embarrassed pink of the doctor, but rather the mortified red of two people who had more than a clear idea of what Ehrlich was getting at.

Couples began filing out of the room, passing by Dr. Ehrlich, who had positioned himself in the doorway and was saying goodnight to everyone individually. Sydney and Gage stood slowly and did not make eye contact with each other. Gage stared at the floor and anyone looking at Sydney would have thought she was fascinated with the wall. 

Mary Tyler stood and said, "Well this is certainly a surprise."

Sydney, glad for the distraction, agreed wholeheartedly. "A real shocker."

"He's brilliant, don't you think?" Mary went on.

"Who?" Sydney asked.

"Dr. Ehrlich," the woman replied.

"Oh," Sydney mused. "Um, sure."

"He really understands marriage, don't you think?" Mary continued.

"Better than I do," Sydney flashed what she hoped was a non-threatening smile.

"Well, we'd better go," Mary seemed oblivious to Sydney's discomfort. "See you in the morning."

"Right," Sydney told her.

She watched the Tylers make their way to the door, then realized that she and Gage were the only ones left in the room. It wouldn't do for them to stand around all night.

She turned to face her partner. "We should go."

Gage's ears were the red of a fire engine and it took him a moment to bring his eyes up to meet hers. "Um, yeah."

"Come on," Sydney kept her tone business-like and grabbed his hand, dragging him behind her to the door. Their appearance was more of a mother dragging a reluctant child to the dentist than a husband and wife who had been granted a second honeymoon of sorts.

Dr. Ehrlich's eyebrows raised when he saw them coming. "I just want you to know that you two were the inspiration for this session."

"And we're so glad," Sydney told him in a pained tone, pulling Gage through the door and down the hall. 


	6. One on One

**I apologize wholeheartedly for the delay in my updates but I've been drowning in end-of-semester "do this or you won't graduate" stuff lately. Thankfully, writing this story provides a nice respite. This chapter is definitely more serious than the past few, but they can't all be funny, now can they? Read on and let me know what you think.

In their room, the "Parkers" latched the door securely behind them, drew the blinds, and instantly assumed positions on opposite sides of the living space. Whether consciously or not, the two managed to turn on every light in their small quarters as they entered – including the bathroom. Sydney moved quickly to a seat at the table in the far right corner and Gage perched on the edge of the couch as far from her as possible, elbows resting on his knees while he clasped and unclasped his hands in front of him nervously. He was very clearly attempting to sit casually on the couch, but his efforts instead gave him the appearance of someone who needed to use the bathroom very badly. Sydney didn't look any better and kept chewing nervously on her bottom lip. The silence that had overtaken them on the walk back from their evening session became heavy, hovering between them like a thick gray fog.

After five minutes that felt to both as though it was five days, Sydney summoned up a deep breath and asked, "What are we doing here?"

Gage's ears went red for the tenth time in fifteen minutes. "I can tell you what we're _not_ doing."

"Gage!" she snapped, standing abruptly in a manner that emphasized her discomfort. She threw up her hands. "Why is this such a big deal? It's not as though we're actually married. We're only _pretending_ to be married for work. Just because Dr. Ehrlich told all of the couples to… well…" She paused. "Just because he gave everyone this crazy assignment doesn't mean we have to do it. We're pretending to be married so what's so hard about pretending that something actually happened here tonight?"

Her partner was obviously following her line of reasoning because he was nodding along with her words, but she could tell that something was still bothering him because he remained silent when she finished.

She stepped closer to him and lowered her tone so that it was softer and more concerned. "Am I missing something or do you not agree with me?"

His blue eyes looked up into her own and she struggled to interpret what she saw there. Was it disappointment? Anger? Frustration? For the amount of time she spent with him on a regular basis, Sydney was surprised at her own inability to read his facial expression at that moment. Startled, she discovered that she was instantly afraid – not because she was unable to make sense of what she saw, but because she sensed that they were about to enter new territory as soon as he responded.

Gage shook his head as though to assuage her fears, but his words only heightened them. "It's nothing, Syd. Really. You're completely right."

She saw the restraint he was exercising with his words and pressed him. "Gage, what is it? What am I missing?"

"Nothing," he insisted with another shake of his head.

"It has to be something," she felt her tone raise a notch and her hands went to her hips as she reflexively assumed her no-nonsense Texas Ranger pose.

"No," he stood and vehemently disagreed with her. There was a paused and then softer: "It's nothing – it's _always_ nothing with us."

"What?" she cried.

An ironic and not at all friendly smile split his face and he told her in a level tone, "I knew you wouldn't get it. You never get it, Syd – either that or you never want to."

"Gage, what are you talking about?" she demanded. Her initial fear had begun to manifest itself in a more definite manner and she felt her stomach muscles tense in response.

"I'm talking about us, Syd," he told her, stepping closer so that the words were delivered directly into her face. "You and me. I'm talking about all of the things that have happened that we're not allowed to talk about, that we're not allowed to acknowledge. I'm talking about the way you manage to avoid everything that happens between us that doesn't fit in with our platonic partner relationship."

"Like what?" she demanded, even though she knew very well what he was referring to.

His mouth tightened. "Oh I don't know, maybe the kiss you planted on me after Walker and Alex's plane landed safely – the one that wasn't 'real.' Or how about what you said to me in the hospital after I got my hearing back that I couldn't tell you I knew about because you'd panic? Or better yet what about this afternoon in the file room? You want to know what's going on here? Well so would I!"

Sydney couldn't remember ever seeing her partner so upset. His breathing had become rapid and there was a vein standing out prominently in his neck. The thing that upset her most, however, was the look in his eyes, a look that she now pinpointed as being one of pure frustration and even disappointment. Instantly she felt guilty for being the cause of his state and took a step backwards to regroup – then realized her mistake as she watched the result of her movement increase the painful intensity of his gaze.

"Gage, I'm sorry if I've upset you," she said softly in a tone that was almost a whisper, stepping forward again and reaching out a hand to him.

"Upset me?" he rolled his eyes and shoved the hand away. "Syd, we're a little beyond upset here. We're to the point of me wanting to fling myself off the top of a tall building every time something happens because I know it's one more thing we're going to have to tiptoe around in conversation!"

It hit home for her then. She didn't know why it hadn't before but she suspected that the reason she hadn't arrived at her revelation previously was that she had been ignoring it, hoping that if she didn't think about it the situation would resolve itself. She now knew without a doubt that it wouldn't. Gage had definite feelings for her and she needed to acknowledge that fact.

She took a deep breath, willing the words to form on her tongue in the way that they seemed reluctant to in her brain. "Gage, I'm sorry."

"You said that already," he snapped, frowning.

She shook her head. "No, not for upsetting you. I'm sorry for avoiding what's been going on between us. It's not fair to either of us."

He raised his eyebrows with interest and folded his arms across his chest, assuming his characteristic listening pose. Still, Sydney could tell from his expression that he wasn't through pressing her. "What _has_ been going on between us, Syd? Tell me that."

Sydney chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip before answering. She knew that the future of their partnership – and their friendship - rested on what she was about to say and that she needed to tread carefully. She lifted her eyes to his, "What's been happening between us is complicated, Gage."

He opened his mouth angrily and she waved him silent with her hand, continuing quickly with, "Don't say that I'm copping out because I'm not, okay? It _is _complicated and you know it. We're partners first and foremost and everything comes second to that. _Everything._ In addition, we're good friends – best friends, even. I don't think there's anyone in the world who understands me as well as you do half the time."

"Half the time is right," he put in, but his face had relaxed and his eyes had regained some of their charming sparkle. Everything about him seemed tuned into her words and she was surprised to find herself feeling better as she spoke them. Holding everything in had been harder than she thought.

She continued. "But work and friendship aside, I can't deny that there's something else between us. I've tried – even when you've called me out on it – and I know that if I were to deny it now, I could kill everything that we have. So there, I admit it. Happy?"

Gage smirked in disbelief but when he spoke his words were slow and neutral. "That's it? I yell and rant and rave at you and that's all I get?"

"What else did you want?" Sydney asked him, her defenses going back up. "I admitted that there's something going on but if you think I'm going to act on anything – especially now – you've been hit in the head by a few too many bad guys, Gage."

He sighed. "Look, Syd, I appreciate your admission – I really do. I think getting all of that into the open has been great, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. I mean, don't you think we should talk through some of the stuff we've been avoiding so that we don't have arguments like this in the future? Besides, I'd like for you to pinpoint exactly what that 'something between us' you referred to is."

Sydney felt deflated and she wasn't sure why. It seemed as though the walls she usually put up around conversations like the one she and Gage were having had not only been brought down, but that they'd been blown into dust. Her partner and best friend was asking her to bare her soul and though part of her thought she should be able to do so with no trouble, another part of her held back. She had one last defense tactic left and she decided to try it.

"Look, Gage," she began, "I don't think this is really the time or place for us to be getting into this. I'm going to grab some files and…"

Work had always saved her before – paperwork, phone calls, bringing in suspects – but this time she knew instantly that it wasn't to be. She watched the boyish face of her partner fall and the anger flare up in his eyes once more and knew that she was unequipped to deal with the fury of the storm she was about to face.

"Not the time or place?" he fumed. "What _is_ the time and place? Huh? Are you going to wait until the next time I lose my hearing in an explosion to resume this conversation? Or maybe we'll just keep tiptoeing around issues until we have nothing left to talk about – that ought to be fun!" He mimicked a verbal exchange between the two: "'Hi, Syd, how was your evening last night?' 'Gage, we have paperwork to do.' 'Oh, my mistake, I forgot that I wasn't supposed to mention the fact that you kissed me. Good thing that wasn't a real one but you sure had me fooled! Ha, ha, ha.'"

The pretend conversation he'd just demonstrated had been delivered with bitterness that Sydney had not thought her partner capable of. Gage was usually so easygoing and affable that to hear such scathing commentary come from his mouth was frightening. She stood rooted to the wooden floor, staring.

"You know what?" he threw up his hands in surrender, his tone still bitter. "I give up. I quit. Let's just go back to the way things were before; it was certainly a lot easier than this." He took a deep breath, "I'm going to go for a walk and cool off."

He touched the door handle before stopping and turning to her one more time. His voice sarcastic, he said, "I guess this goes to prove that couples' therapy isn't for everyone, huh?"

He snorted and was opening the door when Sydney heard a female voice call, "Wait!"

It took her a split second to realize that the voice was her own and it startled her.

Gage turned. "Why?"

"Just don't go," Sydney fumbled with the words.

"_Why_?" he repeated. "We're through here."

Sydney didn't think the words but heard them for the first time when they rolled from her lips. "What do you want me to say? What do I have to say to make you understand this? Do you want to hear about how jealous I get whenever I see you look at or kiss another woman? Or maybe I should tell you that I keep that picture of us from Walker and Alex's wedding by my nightstand so it's the last thing I see at night and the first thing I see in the morning. Oh, I know – I should tell you that the reason I pulled that stunt in the file room was because it was a reflex. I'd fantasized about doing the exact same thing so many times it just made sense to me to go with it right then. Is that what you wanted to hear or would it be enough to say that that mysterious 'something' between us is pure attraction?"

She spat the words in anger, so frustrated with her own reactions to his questions and the uncomfortable way he made her feel that she could find no other emotion to lock onto. Francis Gage had to be the most infuriating man on the planet and yet as she looked into his face, she saw nothing but an angelic expression and a goofy grin. The sight increased her rage twofold.

"What?" she demanded, feeling her body temperature rise with her increased fury.

Gage's shoulders began to shake slightly with held laughter and his blue eyes were twinkling as though he was withholding a secret. Had he stared at her for another moment, she would have thrown the vase of flowers on the coffee table at him. Luckily, he chose her moment of decision to speak.

"Feel better, Shorty?" he asked lightly and she instantly regretted not throwing the vase. It was still within reach, though.

"Should I?" she wanted to know, her tone prickly.

He shrugged innocently. "I just figured since you've probably been holding that in for a while it probably felt good to let it all out."

Her eyes shot sparks and she spun on her heel, headed for the kitchenette and a glass of water so that she wouldn't forcibly remove the smile from his face.

"Hold on a minute," he hurried after her and grabbed her elbow, turning her around to face him. "Don't I get to say anything?"

"Don't you think you've said enough already?" she frowned.

"No," he told her. "I haven't gotten to tell you that I did hear what you said when I got my hearing back and that it meant a lot. I haven't gotten to tell you that the only times I've ever been scared on the job are when you've been in danger. I haven't told you that the picture by _my_ nightstand is of you and I at Alex's baby shower when we played Frisbee in the backyard and you tripped and I caught both you and the Frisbee and Erika got it on film. But most importantly I haven't told you that you're the most amazing person I know and when we're not together nothing seems right to me. So no, I haven't said enough because I haven't gotten to tell you all of that."

Gage's words washed over Sydney and carried her anger away, replacing it with new respect and admiration for her partner. She both hated and loved how he could drive her into a rage and yet pull her back with just a few words. She felt like a puppet when he did that and yet she surprised herself in that she didn't mind. She always felt safe with Gage, no matter what the situation.

She gave a half-smile and asked jokingly, "Feel better, Francis?"

He chuckled. "Actually yeah."

She shook her head to clear it, then asked him, "So are you still up for that walk?"

"Sure," he agreed, going over to the couch and picking up their jackets.

Outside their cabin, the pair began to stroll in the direction of the river that cut through part of the Arroyo Grande property. Behind the main lodge they found a trail and followed it, moonlight stretching their shadows eerily over the ground and lighting the way before them.

"I feel like I need to tell you why I never said all of that before," Sydney began, listening to the crunch of their footsteps and Gage's easy breathing beside her. She only realized now how comforting she found that sound.

Offhandedly, he remarked, "I figured you just weren't mad enough."

She slapped his shoulder lightly. "Gage!"

"Ow!" he cried in mock protest. After he'd sobered, he asked, "So why didn't you?"

Surprised at how easily the words came now, she told him, "Part of it was just the fact that we work together, I guess. I mean, office relationships are really hard and our partnership is so good that I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize it. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that the big reason I pushed everything that happened aside was just because I was scared of what you'd say. I'm not exactly your type of girl and I don't think I ever can be." She snorted and added, "In fact, I'm not the type of girl a lot of guys like. My track record with dating is filled with a lot of guys who wanted me to be something that I can't."

"When did I ever say that you're not my type of girl?" Gage wanted to know.

"Gage," Sydney raised her voice a notch, "I've never seen you date a girl who wasn't tall, blonde, and employed in some fashionable, cushy job where no one shoots at her and she doesn't risk breaking a nail."

"Syd, I'm hurt!" he cried, feigning indignation.

"Name one girl who wasn't like that," Sydney challenged him.

He shrugged casually. "The girl I took to my high school reunion was short, dark-haired, and gets in fights with drug dealers on a regular basis."

"I don't count," she shook her head.

"Why not?" he asked. "Wasn't that a date?"

"Gage, I…" she began, then faltered.

"Exactly," he cut in. "Besides, when have I gone out with any of those other girls more than once?"

"So what are you saying?" Sydney was confused.

"I'm saying you're different from them," Gage told her. They'd reached the riverbank and were staring out across the water, both standing with their hands in the pockets of their jackets.

He continued. "I'm saying that you mean more to me than them. I'm saying that I think I'm in love with you."

He'd spoken the last words so softly that Sydney wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly at first and she took pause. It must have been too long for Gage, though, because he said, "Come on, Syd – don't leave me hanging here."

"I'm sorry," she finally regained her powers of speech. "I just wasn't sure I heard you right. I could have sworn you just said that you're in love with me…"

"Yeah, you heard me right," he nodded and even in the dark she could tell that he had turned bright pink.

"I'm glad," she told him, "because I think I feel the same way about you."

He smiled and seemed incapable of saying anything at that moment so shyly she asked, "Hey Gage?"

"Hmm?" he breathed.

"Remember how I told you that neither of those kisses earlier were for real?" she began.

"Yeah," he frowned suspiciously.

"Would you like to see if you can tell the difference?" she asked almost coyly.

He took a small step backward. "You're not going to kick me in the head again, are you?"

"Not exactly," she chuckled.

"Okay then," he stepped closer.

Sydney stood on her tiptoes and placed her hands on either side of her partner's face, feeling how flushed he was as the heat made her palms tingle. Without a moment's hesitation, she planted her lips firmly on his and gave him a kiss she sincerely hoped he wouldn't forget anytime soon.

When they finally pulled apart, she was about to say something when a sudden movement behind her partner caught her eye.

"Gage, come here," she hissed, grabbing his arm.

"Just let me catch my breath, Syd," he grinned and she grabbed his chin with her hand, turning his head to the rear so he could see what she was looking at.

"The Tylers?" he whispered.

"One way to find out," she shrugged.

"Lead the way, Shorty," he told her.


	7. Marital Investigation

The pair of Rangers crept stealthily towards the main lodge, careful to stay low to the ground and move within the shadows to lessen their chances of being spotted. The rear windows of the building looked directly out onto the sloping lawn and to the water beyond, forcing the partners to make a slightly wider path, sticking close to a clump of trees to their right. Sydney was in the lead and she could hear Gage's soft footsteps and low breathing close behind her as she wove her way along the path, staying as close to the available cover as possible. She was amazed that she and Gage could share what they just had then change back into full work mode as easily as though they'd flipped a switch. It almost seemed too easy, as though he should be more protective of her now or she should want him closer to her. Neither was true, however – Sydney's mind was focused on the task at hand and she sensed that his was too.

At the back of the lodge, she stationed herself below one of the low windows that looked out onto the path they'd just traveled and motioned to Gage to move himself below the one next to it. Neither partner was armed, as they hadn't planned on doing any police work when they'd headed out for their walk. Sydney suddenly felt incredibly vulnerable as she realized that she was not only missing her weapon, but also the two other tools she was also never without: her cell phone and her silver star. If the situation inside the building was anything like her instincts were telling her, she and Gage were in a very dangerous situation. One false move and their cover would be blown, taking the entire case down with it.

Gage motioned to her with his hand and indicated that he was going to peek in the window. She nodded to show that she understood and watched him crane his neck stealthily upwards, straining to catch a glimpse of what was occurring within the lighted room. Sydney stayed down – one person looking in a window was far less likely to be spotted than two were.

Gage watched for a moment or two with no expression on his face to indicate whether what he was seeing was bad or good. Then he ducked down again and crawled over to his partner.

"It's the Tylers all right," he hissed. "And they're in there with the Ehrlichs."

"It sounds like our suspicions were right after all," Sydney responded in a low whisper.

"Did you ever find anything in the files that connected them?" Gage wanted to know.

"I was a bit distracted earlier," Sydney frowned slightly, her eyes twinkling knowingly at her partner. "But everything else that I looked at showed no connection whatsoever."

Gage acknowledged her slight dig with a quick grin, then sobered, his face all business. "We need to know what's happening in that room right now."

"What are they doing?" Sydney asked.

"They're just talking," he shook his head, frustrated.

"We'd better find a way inside then," Sydney concluded.

"Let's try the side door," her partner suggested.

"I'm right behind you," she replied.

Gage pulled his feet beneath him, assuming a crouched stance, and crept around the building until they reached the side entrance, its door dark. Sydney kept watch while he tested to see if it was locked and only looked at him when she heard the click that indicated it wasn't.

"Trusting, aren't they?" he smirked.

Sydney held a finger to her lips to shush him as the two Rangers stole inside, shutting the door softly behind them and making their way slowly towards the sole lighted room. Sydney noticed with a hint of irony that it was the Serenity Room, as she knew that whatever was being plotted inside would undoubtedly be anything but serene.

At the doorway, Gage halted and he and Sydney put their backs to the wall, ears straining to catch any snippets of the conversation they could. She hadn't thought that she was nervous until she felt her shoulder come to rest against Gage's and her brain gave a sigh of relief as it registered the security his presence brought. She had come to rely on him in a lot of ways since they'd been partnered up; that was for certain. 

The voices inside were intense and worried and it was only due to the amount of time that the Rangers had spent with the people inside over the past few days that they were able to distinguish who was speaking.

"I'm telling you, it's time to move on," Dr. Ehrlich was saying. "Sooner or later the police are going to put two and two together and figure out that the people who are having their organs stolen have all stayed here."

"And I'm telling you that we stay put," came Mr. Tyler's voice, stronger than either Gage or Sydney had ever heard it. He sounded like an entirely different person. "The cops don't know anything."

"How can you be so sure?" Ehrlich insisted.

"You don't see them crawling all around this place, do you?" Tyler reasoned. "They haven't even come to question you about a connection – and do you know why? Because they don't see one."

Mrs. Ehrlich spoke up then. "That's just it – how do we know that they're not here and just undercover?"

"Somebody's been watching too much _Law & Order_," Tyler said disdainfully.

"She's got a point, Frank," Ehrlich said. "Besides, this is Texas – for all we know they could have sent Rangers in here!"

"Ooh – now I'm really scared, " Tyler laughed mockingly. His voice sobered as he continued. "Look, let's just pick our next lucky candidates and get out of here. We'll discuss plans to move at a later date."

"Frank, I…" Ehrlich tried again.

"I said _at a later date_," Tyler barked.

"Bob?" Mary Tyler spoke for the first time since Sydney and Gage had been listening.

"What is it, dear?" Tyler's voice grew gentler.

"I really think we should listen to Dr. Ehrlich," her tone held its characteristic soccer mom buoyancy and all-knowing fortitude. "He knows what's best for us."

"You're probably right," Tyler seemed to be soothing her with his words. "In fact, I'll even ask him about that new communication exercise we discussed earlier."

"Do that," Mary Tyler said.

In the hall, Sydney and Gage exchanged a look of pure confusion. The earlier part of the conversation had been expected and was easy to follow, but Mary Tyler's contribution had seemed completely unrelated. Still, in silence they continued to listen carefully.

"So which ones are you thinking of this time?" Ehrlich asked resignedly.

"I've been watching them since they arrived and I definitely think we should go for the Parkers," Tyler replied stonily. "They're both young, incredibly fit, and appear to be our best candidates from this lot."

"I thought you'd say that," Ehrlich concurred. "And I suppose you've already gotten their files and know exactly where to find them."

"Of course," Tyler told him. "Mary here pulled their file this afternoon while she was working in the file room for me – isn't that right, dear?"

"The Parkers are from Dallas," Mary Tyler put in. "I've given them our home address and I do hope we can have them over to dinner sometime, Bob."

"Oh we will, dear," Tyler told her. He then asked, "You didn't by any chance already invite them, did you?"

"Oh yes," she was apparently nodding her head yes. "But I'll have to get their phone number before they leave so we can set things up."

"Absolutely," her husband agreed. Sydney strained to figure out what exactly it was that she heard in his tone – was it condescension or pity? Perhaps a mixture of the two? But if so, why?

"Does that mean that we're all concluded here?" Mrs. Ehrlich demanded.

"Sounds that way," Tyler responded, sounding self-assured.

"Good," she said and it sounded as though she was moving towards the door. Sydney and Gage were instantly in motion, hurrying into the nearby entrance to the women's restroom and adjusting the door behind them so that they could still hear the conversation.

The voices were more muted now, but the Rangers could still make out the words as Ehrlich said, "And Frank? Just so you know, we _will_ discuss your moving on very soon."

"Are you threatening me?" Frank countered. "I certainly hope not because that wouldn't be wise. I would hate to have to go to the police and tell them not only that you're practicing without a medical license, but that you're behind the entire organ stealing scam."

"You can't pin the entire thing on me," Ehrlich's voice took on a nervous quality.

"Want to bet?" Tyler replied. His voice lowered and grew intense. "You owe me, Gregory, and you've been of immense help to me, but don't think I won't let you swing for this in order to save myself."

"You're out of control," Ehrlich hissed.

"You'd better hope not," Tyler responded, then to his wife said, "Come on, Mary. Time for bed."

"Good night, doctor," she chirped and Gage and Sydney held their breath collectively as the pair walked past the door to the women's bathroom where they hid and exited the building.

Mrs. Ehrlich commented to her husband, "This is going to end badly, Gregory."

"Let's go, Louise," he sighed and they too passed by the women's restroom door on their way out.

Only after they'd heard the door latch did Sydney and Gage allow themselves to breathe again. Gage was the first to speak.

"Well, I'm confused," he whispered.

"Ditto," Sydney agreed. "Let's get back to our cabin and try to make sense of it."

"Right," Gage climbed to his feet and fumbled in the dark for Sydney's hand to pull her up beside him. She was surprised and yet pleased when he didn't let go until they'd returned to their cabin. Though it felt foreign to walk hand-in-hand with him, it didn't feel wrong at all.

"So let's figure out what we know," he said as she pulled the laptop from his hiding place and situated herself at the table.

"Right," she agreed. "What we know for sure right now is that the Ehrlichs and the Tylers are in on this scheme together."

"Yeah," Gage nodded. "We also know that they've picked us to be their next targets."

"I guess we were convincing," Sydney commented as she clicked the laptop's mouse and brought up the database she was looking for.

"Definitely," he agreed. "But now that we know they're definitely involved, there should be a way for us to get them without going to the trouble of getting a house set up somewhere in the suburbs and waiting."

"I'm guessing there's a paper trail somewhere," Sydney told him. "After all, they're selling the organs to someone."

"I'll call Trivette first thing in the morning and tell him what the current situation is," Gage said. "And then I'll ask him to check with his informants and see if any of them know anything about organ selling on the black market. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"Mm," Sydney was only half-listening as she went over Dr. Ehrlich's file again. She knew that she must have missed something the first time – now it was only a matter of discovering what exactly that was.

Gage was shuffling through a small stack of papers when she suddenly inhaled sharply and breathed, "That's it!"

"What did you find?" he wanted to know.

"Did Jimmy tell you what medical school Frank Timmerson went to?" Sydney asked him without looking away from the screen.

"I think he said Northwestern," Gage shrugged, waiting to see where things were going.

"Bingo," Syd smiled at him. "Dr. Ehrlich is also a proud graduate of Northwestern – class of 1977."

"They were college roommates," Gage leapt ahead of her line of reasoning and she nodded to indicate that his assumption was correct. He paused, though, and asked, "But why did Frank say that Ehrlich owed him? What happened while they were in school?"

Sydney pursed her lips thoughtfully and clicked the mouse a few more times. After a moment, her eyebrows raised and she looked up again. "It looks like our dear Dr. Ehrlich may have cheated on his medical boards. Want to hazard a guess as to who helped him?"

"Interesting," Gage commented.

"I guess he really does owe him," Sydney observed.

"And now Timmerson is using Ehrlich's facility to fulfill his Robin Hood scheme," Gage shook his head in disbelief. "Wow."

"Wow is right," Sydney agreed.

"That doesn't explain Loretta Timmerson's behavior, though," Gage added, puzzled. "I mean, she called him Bob and he spoke to her differently than everyone else."

"I know what you mean," Sydney said, "but I can't explain it either. I guess we'll have to do some more research when you call Trivette in the morning."

"Right," Gage nodded. He glanced at his watch, "And speaking of morning, it already is."

"You're kidding," Sydney glanced at her own watch and saw that it was already 1:30 a.m. She and Gage had been arguing and working for over four hours and she hadn't even realized it.

Gage stood and she watched his face turn pink again. "So, um…"  
She read his mind instantly and decided that the best way to handle the situation was bluntly.

"Gage," she began, her tone knowing and yet soft at the same time, "why don't we just keep things simple at the moment? I'll take the bed again and you can take the couch. Let's not tread to heavily on everything that happened tonight just yet."

He blushed again, and then relief seemed to wash over his face. "That sounds good to me."

"Good," Sydney went over and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night, Shorty," she heard him say as she closed the bathroom door behind her. The words had never sounded so sweet.

***

Sydney woke early despite the fact that she and Gage had not gotten to bed until very late. Outside, she heard a chorus of birds and at first she struggled to remember where exactly she was and what had happened over the past few days. Yet as she thought about it a bit, the memories hit her with all the subtlety of a falling piano – at the exact same moment that a freshly showered and dressed Gage emerged from the tiny bathroom, his pale hair spiky and damp. He noticed instantly that she was awake and immediately turned pink – again. Apparently he wasn't the only one who was a bit overcome by the extreme quality of the emotions they'd expressed the night before.

"Hey, Syd," he ventured softly, then added, "Bathroom's free."

"What time is it?" she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Seven forty-five," he told her.

"Have you called Trivette yet?" she wanted to know, swinging her legs over and bringing herself to a standing position. She ran a sleepy hand through her tousled hair.

"I was planning to do that right now," he said.

"Good," she nodded. "I'll shower while you do that and then we can head to breakfast and do some more firsthand research."

"Right," he agreed as she moved past him.

"Hey Syd," he said before she closed the door.

"Hmm?" she responded.

"Now that we aired out all of that stuff last night," he began, "there's something I think I ought to tell you…"

_Uh-oh_, was Sydney's reflexive thought.

He was still talking. "I think you look great in the mornings." He blushed as he said it, looking surprised that the words had escaped his lips but added, "I always wanted to say it but I figured you'd hit me."

Sydney gave a half-smile and, noticing a wet towel balled up near her feet, she stooped, picked it up, and asked him mischievously, "You know what Gage?"

"Huh?"

"You were right," she grinned and hurled the towel, catching him squarely in the head. Without further ado, she closed the bathroom door behind her.

Holding the damp towel in his hands and staring after her, Gage smiled broadly. He'd thought that things would change drastically if he and Sydney ever spoke their feelings out loud. He was glad to know that wasn't the case.

*** Author's note – Don't worry, there's more to come! This chapter was just one I wrote really fast so you wouldn't think I forgot about you while I was taking my finals. One more exam and I'll get this thing wrapped up, I promise!


	8. Dissolving the Union

Author's Note: FINALLY! I've done it, folks – I've completed this story. But before I let you read the conclusion, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed this little piece of fiction. Really, reviews are the only thing that keep me writing. I couldn't have done it without you – enjoy!

Gage's call to Trivette proved extremely valuable to the case, as the senior Ranger revealed information he'd recently found that cleared up the niggling questions both Sydney and Gage had been wrestling with concerning Mary Tyler and her behavior. When the last piece of the puzzle fell into place, Gage's face lit up with surprise, drawing an interested stare from Sydney, who was keeping watch at the window while he talked on the phone. (Their wandering discovery of the previous night had reminded the two of the potentially dangerous situation they were in and the necessity for tight security in order to assure their own safety and the integrity of the case.)

"I'll call you soon, Jimmy," Gage concluded the call. "And thanks."

"You will never believe this," Gage was speaking to his partner almost before the phone was away from his ear. "Loretta Timmerson is crazy."

"Gage," Sydney frowned. "You may not like her all that well but that's…"

"No, you don't get it," he cut her off. "She's _crazy_ – like in the head. Certifiable. Trivette did some research and apparently she hasn't been quite right since their daughter's death. Frank subsequently murdering that doctor didn't help things, I'm sure. He even had her committed at one time, which is how Trivette came across the information in the first place. Apparently she's created this false world and moved in, so to speak, to the point where she has no idea what's going on anymore. Based on what he knows, Trivette doesn't even think she realizes that her husband is a killer and she probably thinks she's on an actual trip to this resort."

"I guess that explains a lot of her behavior," Sydney wrinkled her forehead in thought. "But what about the file room? She was definitely looking for our file and there would be no reason for her to do that unless she was in on this entire plan."

"Got that one covered too," Gage told her, seating himself at the table and facing his partner. "Loretta used to work in Frank's office as a receptionist and file clerk. Undoubtedly he somehow convinced her that they were still at the office and she needed to pull our file for him. He probably figured that if she got caught she could feed a believable story to whoever saw her and Frank would still be in the clear."

"So it sounds like the real mastermind behind this whole thing is Frank Timmerson," Sydney concluded thoughtfully. She gave a rueful shrug. "And to think we wanted to pin this on Dr. Ehrlich from Day One."

"After that first couples' therapy session, can you blame us?" Gage asked her in a pained voice.

"I didn't say it wasn't justified," she responded with a smile, then added, "And speaking of Dr. Ehrlich, I assume we're thinking the same thing about what our next move should be."

Gage nodded. "Go in, tell him who we are and why we're here, and get him to roll on Frank Timmerson."

"You got it," Sydney agreed.

Gage stood and stretched. "Shall we get to it then? The sooner we wrap this case, the sooner we can stop attending our couples' sessions."

"Oh come on Gage," Sydney stood too and gave him a teasing look, "weren't you the one who told me when we got the assignment that this might be a good thing?"

"I think it was Walker who said that," he told her as they headed for the door.

"We should send he and Alex to one of these things and see if he still thinks that when they're through," Sydney suggested.

"I'm not touching that idea," her partner said. "If he sent us to couples' therapy for fighting in the office, imagine what sort of awful place he'd dream up to send us next."

***

Getting a private appointment with Dr. Ehrlich, the two Rangers had learned during their stay, required either very early planning or a marital emergency. Due to their time constraint, the pair chose the latter as their means of entry into his office following the morning sessions. It was agreed that they would feign a major argument in the lobby of the main lodge within hearing distance of his office, something that came surprisingly easily to them despite the fact that they'd been getting along very well since the night of their incredibly revealing argument. Apparently there was some validity to the saying that old habits died hard after all.

"I can't believe you would say such a thing!" Sydney screamed at Gage as they entered the front door, pretending to be on their way to the dining hall.

"I didn't mean it that way!" he pleaded, following her lead.

"I think that's the most hurtful thing you've ever said to me!" She sounded genuinely wounded and Gage almost smiled at how convincing she was, then reminded himself that she might actually be drawing on personal experience with him for her performance and maintained his frown.

"Well I'm sorry that you took it that way," he feigned confusion at her behavior, "but you interpreted it all wrong. If you want me to take it back, I will."

"Take it back?" she screamed. "How can you take something like that back?"

The girls behind the front desk were staring, open-mouthed and Gage saw one of them lift the phone to her ear, undoubtedly calling the doctor to report the trouble. He decided to give the situation a little nudge.

"Look," he lowered his voice and pretended to be mortified by her behavior, "you're making a scene and I think this is best discussed somewhere else…"

He stepped forward and placed a hand on Sydney's arm, not at all surprised when she slapped it away and fighting the urge to smile once again as he saw the smoldering quality her dark eyes had acquired during their exchange. He could admit to himself now that that was undoubtedly one of the reasons he had always liked fighting with her in general because, though it sounded corny and overused, she really _was_ beautiful when she was angry. Eyes glowering and cheeks flushed, she was irresistible. Still, Gage vowed never to tell her at the risk of physical harm to his person. After all, she could be rather scary sometimes – attractive, but scary. Right now, for example, she was walking the fine line between the two extremes as she spat another angry sentence in his direction.

"Making a scene?" Her eyes met his and he noticed that she was fully in character. Always the professional, he knew she would never let anything get in the way of her job – not even the ridiculousness of this particular situation or her recent admission that she loved him. "Oh, I hope I'm not embarrassing you, John! After all, I would hate to let the entire resort know that you're a mean and spiteful person – whatever would all of these _perfect strangers_ think of us?"

"Elena!" he hissed, looking furtively around him. "Let's go."

"No!" She pulled herself up to her full height, which only served to emphasize her shortness in comparison to him.

Dr. Ehrlich rushed out of his office and over to them, crying, "John! Elena! What is going on here?"

"He," Sydney pointed an accusatory finger at her partner, "is completely vindictive and hurtful and I hate him."

Gage had to work to swallow back a complete guffaw as he noticed that the only thing separating his partner's behavior at that moment from that of a four-year-old having a tantrum was a stomping foot. Yet as soon as he thought that very thing, she added the stomp for emphasis and he had to fight the laughter again.

Thankfully Ehrlich didn't seem to notice. Instead, he waved the couple distractedly into his office, saying, "Let's discuss this in private, shall we?"

The Rangers followed him dutifully, assuming a walk that, had they been dogs, would have put their tails between their legs. Still, the glance they exchanged as Ehrlich closed the door behind them was the equivalent of a high-five.

Ehrlich seated himself at his desk, folding his hands before him and looking at the pair over the tops of his glasses. "All right, John and Elena – what's going on?"

Sydney and Gage exchanged another look that, had Ehrlich been paying closer attention, would have revealed a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn in their behavior. The anger had vanished completely and had been replaced with the harmony that accompanied the pair's working relationship.

Gage offered casually, "Well, from what we can tell, this couples' resort is being used as a front for a black market organ-selling operation, doctor. That in itself is pretty big, but is there anything else going on that we should know about?"

Ehrlich's face whitened in shock and his mouth opened and closed several times without making any sounds. When the words came, they were scattered and gasped: "How…? Wha-? Um…"

"We're Texas Rangers," Sydney supplied, her tone very assured.

"Rangers," he repeated blankly. His hands flew to his face and he seemed to be feeling himself in order to find out if he was still physically there. "I knew something like this would happen and I told them…"

"Dr. Ehrlich," Sydney began, her voice level the way it was whenever she dealt with suspects and anyone who was upset, "my partner and I overheard the conversation you and your wife had with Dr. and Mrs. Timmerson in this building last night. We know about the ring and we know that Frank Timmerson is the head of everything."

"Then you also know about my, um…" he faltered.

"We know about your medical boards," Gage finished his sentence for him. "We know about Loretta Timmerson's history of mental instability as well."

"Am I under arrest?" the doctor looked at them with pleading eyes.

"That depends on you," Sydney told him. "You see, we know everything but we can't substantiate it. You know how the courts work these days – we need hard evidence in order to get a conviction. I assume that you have such evidence and, if you're willing to share it with us, I think we can persuade the D.A. to come up with a deal for you and your wife."

"What do you need?" he asked quickly, hands shaking as he folded them before him on the desk.

Gage and Sydney exchanged another visual high-five and Gage responded coolly: "What have you got?"

"Everything," the doctor told him earnestly. "I have records, files, e-mails, faxes – you name it. They go all the way back to the first victim."

"You're a very thorough man," Sydney observed in a tone that neared admiration. "How is it that you've managed to have all of those problems with your medical license?"

"Let's just say that I'm not so thorough about everything and leave it at that," Ehrlich demurred, rising to his feet. "Shall I take you to the files now?"

"Lead the way," Gage replied, standing as well, Sydney beside him.

At the door to his office, Ehrlich paused before opening it and shook his head in disbelief, turning back to say, "So you're really Texas Rangers?"

Sydney nodded. "I'm Ranger Cooke. He's Ranger Gage."

Ehrlich shook his head again. "Well you gave a very convincing performance. I could have sworn you really were married – especially after that incident in the file room the other day."

Sydney didn't have to look at her partner to know that his face had gone red because she felt her own cheeks flush instantly at the memory. Determined not to appear rattled, however, she told him evenly, "Let's just say we're committed to our work and leave it at that."

Ehrlich seemed content with her reply and opened the door – only to run right into the rigid form of Frank Timmerson, who was pointing a gun at chest level.

"Mr. Tyler!" Ehrlich exclaimed, as though hoping that he could hold onto the fake world that it seemed he shared with Loretta Timmerson.

"Cut the crap, Gregory," Timmerson snapped, gesturing with the gun that he and the Rangers should move back into the office. "I knew you'd turn me in the first chance you got and now here we are. It's a fine mess you've gotten us into."

"Sounds like you created the mess in the first place," Gage put in from his position beside Ehrlich, crossing his arms defiantly over his chest.

"Is that so, John?" Timmerson countered. "Or should I say, _Ranger_?"

"It's about time we dropped the pretenses anyway, _Frank_," was Gage's pointed reply, his gaze never wavering. Beside him, Sydney was also standing her ground, her own eyes darting back and forth between Ehrlich and Timmerson.

Timmerson chuckled. "Well now that we're all acquainted, let's get down to business, shall we? You know all about what I do and I know everything I want to know about what you do so this should be pretty simple. See, you're the lucky pair that was chosen to be the next donors to my little organ gathering program anyway. Now that you know all about it, I think we should up the ante, though. In fact, why don't we all move into the back room of this building and get to work, Rangers. Gregory, you'll assist with the procedure, of course."

"Much as I'd like to help," Gage cut him off in a jovial, yet guarded tone, "I don't think that's going to be possible today."

"Why not?" Timmerson's eyes narrowed and his grip on the gun tightened.

"Well, you see it's my partner here," Gage told him. "She's really against the idea of donating her organs while she's still using them and I have to say that I can't blame her, really – I'm pretty attached to mine as well."

Timmerson's gaze never left Gage's face – which was exactly what the blond Ranger was counting on, as it gave Sydney a chance to inch slightly to the side, placing her perfectly perpendicular to Timmerson and his outstretched weapon. The instant he noticed her, she was ready with a swift kick that dislodged the gun from his hands and sent it flying into Gage's firm grasp.

With a shrug and a smirk, the Ranger told Timmerson: "See? I told you so."

Timmerson growled in response and Sydney frowned and shook her head, stepping forward to place him under arrest.

"Frank Timmerson, I'm placing you under arrest for…" was as far as she got before the office door burst open again, revealing Loretta Timmerson (a.k.a. Mary Tyler) who also held a gun in her hands and pointed it desperately at Sydney, then Gage.

"Let him go," her voice had a shaky quality, as did her entire body and she seemed more fearful than pointed in her delivery.

"Mary – where did you get that gun?" Frank demanded before anyone else had a chance to speak.

"It was in the box under the bed," she replied. "I saw you take yours and I thought there might be trouble so I followed you."

"Mary, put the gun down," Sydney told her carefully, not moving from her position beside Frank Timmerson. Gage held his hands low but did not release the weapon he held in his right, his eyes nervously monitoring the woman for signs of what would be her next move.

"Let him go," she repeated, her voice pleading. "I'll shoot you, Elena – I swear it."

"Mary," Gage ventured, causing her to turn and point the gun at him, "we don't want anyone to get hurt here. Your husband is being placed under arrest for crimes against innocent people and this will all go much more easily if you put your weapon down and let us do our jobs. I'd like to put my gun down, but I can't do that until you put down yours."

"Elena," Loretta turned desperate eyes to Sydney, "what's your husband talking about? Arrest Bob? What has he done?"

"Mary, my name is Sydney Cooke and I'm a Texas Ranger," Sydney tried another tactic. "The man over there is my partner, Ranger Francis Gage. Please give him your gun so he can set his down."

"Lies!" Loretta spat. "You're all liars!"

"The only liar here is your husband," Gage said softly. "He pretends to be doing the world a service by placing more organs for sale on the black market, but all he's really doing is causing more pain and suffering."

Frank had remained silent during the brief exchange and when he spoke again it was in a gentle, fatherly tone. "Mary, give them the gun. It's over."

"Bob?" her voice became childlike. "Bob, what are you saying?"

"They're telling the truth," he sighed. "Part of you knows that; I can tell. Let the Rangers do their jobs."

"You can't leave me alone," she insisted. "They'll take you away and I'll never see you. I already lost my daughter and if I lose you I'll be all alone. I need you."

Gage felt his heart twist sharply at her pleading words and he wanted nothing more in the world than to help ease the poor woman's suffering. Yet the constraints of his job held him back and he stuck fast to the rules of conduct firmly established in his mind concerning execution of the law – he could not relax until he and Sydney were in full control of the situation and that could not happen until Loretta Timmerson surrendered.

Beside him, Gage heard Ehrlich mutter under his breath and made out the word "suicidal." Loretta's face was being traveled over by a series of emotions and she seemed utterly torn. Frustrated, Sydney shot a glance over her shoulder at Gage that mirrored his exact feelings – desperation at being unable to help her and utter sadness at the heartbreak that must have brought the woman to such depths in the first place.

"I need you," Loretta repeated softly, like a chant. "I need you."

She was still chanting the words as she lifted the gun to her temple and pulled the trigger.

***

Sydney had packed up the contents of their cabin by the time Gage returned from the main lodge, having finalized the last remaining details of the case with the reporting officers concerning the delivery of Dr. and Mrs. Ehrlich into protective custody, the detainment of Frank Timmerson, and the removal of the body of Loretta Timmerson/Mary Tyler. The petite Ranger was a flurry of motion, tossing technical equipment into cases and zipping duffel bags with rapidity. Gage knew that it was all a way for her to get her mind off of what had occurred in Ehrlich's office and wanted nothing more than to walk over, stop her, and pull her into his arms. Still, he knew that despite everything that had happened, such a tender moment would never be allowed. She'd knee him in the groin and walk out the door first.

Deciding to try words, he asked, "So have you talked with Trivette?"

"Yeah," her hands never quit folding the wire in her hand and her eyes never lifted. "He and Walker know about the situation and are waiting for our full reports when we get back to Dallas."

"Good," the word felt empty as he spoke it.

"Everything taken care of at the lodge?" she wanted to know.

"All set," he replied.

"Good," she said, striding into the bathroom to pack her toiletries.

Gage seated himself on the couch and rested his head in his hands, mulling over the events that had occurred since they'd first arrived at Arroyo Grande. He didn't hear her re-enter the room and didn't look up until he felt her sit down beside him. The sidelong glance he gave her was gentle, but questioning.

"She was ready to kill for him, Gage," the words were soft and crestfallen and Sydney didn't meet his eyes right way.

"I know," he told her.

"She couldn't see living her life without him," she added.

"She loved him," he said simply.

"She was an amazing woman," Sydney said. "There was more complexity to her than met the eye."

"That's true," he agreed softly.

"You know what my first thought was when I saw her with that gun pointed at you?" Sydney asked him. Gage shook his head and Sydney gave a short laugh that indicated she couldn't believe she was about to share her thought with him. "I thought she was going to shoot you and I wondered what I'd do without you."

"You wouldn't have anyone to fight with," he ventured with a half-smile.

She took a deep breath and said, "I need you, Gage." The words were followed by a wry smile and, "Loretta Timmerson made me realize it this afternoon. Somehow you've completely weaseled your way into my life and now it doesn't seem right when you're not there."

Gage feigned a swoon. "Words every man wants to hear from the woman he loves – 'you've completely weaseled your way into my life.' Who knew you were so romantic, Shorty?"

Sydney elbowed him sharply. "Hey, you have no idea how romantic I can be, Francis!"

"Oh yeah?" he grinned broadly at her, then laced his fingers through hers and pulled her in for a kiss. "Why don't you show me?"


	9. Epilogue

The sound carried all the way up the hall and into the office of Company B, causing the Texas Rangers working inside to stop what they were doing, look up, and listen.

"You've got to be kidding," Ranger Francis Gage looked up from his desk and across to his partner, whose dark eyes lifted from her paperwork and mirrored his own sentiment. They'd been back from Arroyo Grande for two weeks and were only just finishing their reports on everything that had happened. They had also discovered that, whether through their admissions of their feelings for each other, the therapy sessions they'd been forced to attend, or through simply sharing the entire crazy experience they'd become much closer and their working relationship had improved. (The fact that they'd been out on a handful of dates since returning home and had discovered that they enjoyed spending time together as a couple hadn't hurt matters either.)

"Third time this week," Sydney commented off-handedly, laying her pen aside.

The sound continued, increasing in volume until the door to Company B swung open to reveal senior Rangers Cordell Walker and James Trivette, arguing loudly – or at least Trivette was being loud. Walker, in his characteristically mild fashion, was listening to his partner rant and defending himself in moderate tones during pauses in Trivette's exclamations.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me that 'Little' JB Fuller was a three hundred pound linebacker!" Trivette cried.

"Come on, Trivette - he wasn't over two-fifty," Walker reasoned. "And I didn't know that he was a former linebacker until afterwards."

"Why is it," Trivette was in front of Gage and Sydney's desks now, where the two younger Rangers were pretending to be completely absorbed in their work, "that whenever we go in to apprehend suspects, you always get the little guys and I always end up with the really big ones?"

"I was dealing with three of them at the same time," Walker told him, frustrated. "How was I supposed to know that one guy would cause such a problem for you?"

"One guy the size of a Mack truck!"

The pair had moved towards their own desks now and Gage seized an opportunity for escape. "Ready for lunch?"

"I'm starved," Sydney nodded and both rose to leave.

Each had grabbed a jacket and Sydney had picked up a set of car keys when the motion caught Trivette's eye.

"Hey you guys," he called. "Have _you_ noticed that I seem to get the raw end of the deal every time Walker and I have to bring people in?"

"I really couldn't say, Jimmy," Gage shrugged casually.

"We don't pay too much attention," Sydney added. Neither wanted to get in the middle of their coworkers' dispute.

"It happens every time!" Trivette fumed.

"Have you considered talking to someone about these issues?" Gage asked, barely successful in repressing his smirk. "You know, like a counselor or someone who can help you communicate better as partners?"

"You mean _therapy_?" Trivette yelped. Walker began to chuckle, knowing full well that his partner was walking into Gage's verbal trap.

"It worked for us," Sydney told him helpfully, her tone dripping with false sincerity. "We've never gotten along better."

"But you were at _couples'_ therapy - undercover!" Trivette was dumbfounded. "Walker and I are not a couple."

"Well, there _are_ two of you," Sydney pointed out, "and another term for two is couple."

"Go to lunch!" he shouted in frustration, causing Walker's chuckle to become full-blown laughter despite his best efforts to stay quiet.

"Just think about it, Jimmy," Gage told him in parting, his face pure and innocent as he backed towards the door. "You know, you two could go to a nice resort somewhere and walk in the woods and talk about your problems. It's very therapeutic."

Trivette was standing frozen in front of his desk, mouth hanging open when Sydney and Gage let the door swing shut behind them. Their shared laughter could be heard all the way down the hall.

FIN


End file.
